


Remember Me

by Squatta



Series: 'Remember Me' Universe [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 05:09:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1182288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squatta/pseuds/Squatta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine gets into an accident and can't quite recall the last thing that happened to him. Kagami struggles to help him recover. AoKaga.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my FF.net account on 9/28/13. Finished on 2/5/14.

The smell of cleaning chemicals, the monotonous beeping of a machine, a blinding white light, all greeted Aomine when he woke up from what seemed to have been a long sleep. It took him a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to see that he did not recognize the ceiling he was looking up at, but a few glances around could tell him one thing: he was in a hospital room. He looked down at his body to see himself in a hospital gown, his hands had tubes running from them to a machine and he also seemed to be connected to an ECG. The curtain was pulled halfway around the bed, the exposed side showed the view of outside – it seemed like he was on the second floor.

 _'What the hell…'_ he thought to himself, attempting to sit up.

But that was a bad idea as sitting up made his head spin in pain. He groaned, slowly putting a hand to his forehead and lying himself back down on the bed. He noticed that there was also a bandage wrapped around his head when he felt the gauze. He could hear the beeping of his heart rate rise during the whole process.

Not much later, he heard someone enter the room; it was probably because of the sudden increase of his heart rate. A nurse rounded the corner of the curtain and gave a shocked look when she realized he was awake.

"Oh! You're awake!" she opened the curtain fully and scurried over to his side. "How are you feeling? Oh, please don't move…" she set a gentle hand on Aomine's shoulder to keep him in place.

"What… happened?" Aomine managed to grunt out. He was starting to feel pain in more places now.

"The doctor will tell you all about it later. For now I need to know how you're feeling. Any pain? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" the nurse sounded very concerned in a motherly way which was kind of nice but all Aomine wanted to know was how he ended up in the hospital.

"Hurts… a little. I want to see the doctor…" Despite the pain and being told not to move, Aomine again made another attempt to sit himself up.

"Ah! Please refrain from moving!" the nurse again set a hand on his shoulder. "If you would like, I'll move the bed up for you," she picked something up off the side of the bed and held up a remote.

"Thanks…" Aomine seemed to be fine with that solution.

After propping the bed up for Aomine the nurse scurried out of the room to go find the doctor.

Aomine sat in the silence and tried to wrack his brain as to what happened that resulted in him getting hospitalized, but he just couldn't remember. He couldn't even quite pinpoint the last thing he _did_ remember. It seemed like it was futile to try, luckily, the doctor came in quicker than he expected. Maybe now he'd get some kind of answer.

"Hello, Mister… Aomine Daiki," the doctor took a quick glance at the clipboard in his hands.

 _'Couldn't have even to bothered memorizing my name before you got in here?'_ he scoffed to himself.

"It seems you got yourself into an automotive accident. Luckily, you didn't break any bones but there were some deep cuts and sprains here and there. Also, as you can probably tell, you hit your head rather hard which caused quite a gash and a concussion, a pretty serious one. You lost consciousness for about four hours so luckily you didn't go into a coma."

Aomine was shocked to hear that something that serious had happened to him. Not only that, there were a thousand questions that were swimming around in his head that he wanted to ask.

"Wh-who else was in the car?" Aomine really didn't get in many cars as trains were his main way of transport; he wondered what he'd be doing in a car in the first place.

"You were by yourself – apparently someone ran a red light and t-boned you full on," the doctor explained.

"Huh?"Aomine gave a baffled expression, "I… I don't drive…"

The doctor raised an eyebrow at this, "It was your car, Mr. Aomine. It was registered to your name and we have your license on record."

Aomine's jaw dropped slightly. What the hell is this guy talking about? Car? License? Aomine didn't have either of those. Noticing the shocked and slightly horrified look Aomine was giving, the doctor seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Ah, Mr. Aomine, can you tell me how old you are?" The doctor gave an attentive look.

"S-Sixteen… I'm sixteen…" Aomine said in a wavering voice.

"Mr. Aomine," the doctor cleared his throat, "I believe you may be suffering from retrograde amnesia. We may have to run some tests to see how severe this may be. Don't worry, many people with amnesia from head injuries make a full-recovery."

Aomine was barely listening to the doctor continue on in his speech after he heard that he had amnesia. It felt like he wasn't even himself anymore – that he was in some other person's body. He just wanted to wake up and be in his room again and hope all of this was a bad dream.

"Mr. Aomine," the doctor's voice raised a louder volume, snapping Aomine out of his thoughts. "We going to do a few tests just to see if there are any other injuries now that you're awake," the doctor flipped through some papers on his clipboard.

"Um, how old am I?" Aomine asked, finally finding his voice again.

"I believe you are twenty-five if my records are right," the doctor replied.

"Twenty-five…" Aomine said under his breath. He was nine years older just like that?

"The best way to help treat amnesia is to try to do things you did before you lost your memory. Luckily your partner is here and in the waiting room so maybe seeing them could spark some kind of trigger. After we run our tests we can bring them in," the doctor started to turn to walk out of the room.

"W-Wait!" Aomine shouted after him, "Partner?"

"Ah, yes, they rushed over here after we contacted them; they were in your emergency contacts. You may not remember them because of your amnesia… So it might do some good to see them," the doctor turned back around and walked out of the room.

Aomine was again left baffled. All of this was too overwhelming. So now he was twenty-five and he had… a girlfriend? Was it someone he knew? Or someone the 'other him' met?

* * *

"He- He doesn't remember anything after he was sixteen?"

"I'm afraid not, after we run some tests to see that there's nothing else wrong with him you'll be allowed to go see him."

"Alright…"

"Seeing you might help his memories, so try to stay positive."

"I'll try…"

* * *

All Aomine wanted to do was get done with these tests and go home. Well, they said they were going to keep him in the hospital overnight just in case so apparently he couldn't go home quite yet… Where even _was_ home for his twenty-five year old self? But at least he could see who this 'partner' of his was. After the poking and prodding and 21 questions were over, the staff had finally allowed Aomine be left on his own. He was kind of anxious to see who would walk through the door next and finally see who this person was.

Maybe about five minutes passed and the door creaked slowly open.

"Daiki…" a low but worried voice sounded and Aomine was met with bright red eyes.

"K-Kagami!?" Aomine shouted which caused a bit of pain to shoot up his shoulder.

"Ah! Be quite! Don't move so much…" Kagami rushed over to Aomine who was clutching his shoulder in pain.

"Why the hell are you here!?" Aomine said in a low voice through gritted teeth. "Where is my girlfriend?"

"Girl… Huh?" Kagami looked confused.

"The doctor said my partner was waiting for me but I see you of all people," he growled, furrowing his brow.

Kagami's face gave a look of realization, "O-Oh…"

He couldn't believe the doctor said something like that. Kagami wanted to avoid telling an amnesiac Aomine about their relationship, at least as long as he could. Well, the doctor didn't know the past these two had before they started dating. Yeah, sixteen was definitely not the age these two were necessarily on good terms.

"Um…" Kagami struggled to come up with an excuse, "She's not… here."

"Huh? Where did she go?" Aomine demanded.

"She had some other urgent business to take care of so, uh, once she heard you were fine she had to go…" Kagami was really reaching for straws at this excuse.

"She left me here with you then!?" Aomine complained, crossing his arms.

"You may not believe it but, we're really good friends now," yeah _veeeery_ good friends.

"You gotta be shitting me, I'm friends with you!?" Aomine honestly looked flabbergasted.

"Yeah, can you believe it?" Kagami shrugged his shoulders like it was just some kind of coincidence. When in actuality it was a big rollercoaster that had gotten them to where they were now.

"Huh…" Aomine seemed to have found that interesting at least. "But you're so annoying; I can't see myself really ever hanging out with you."

Blunt and crude, just how he used to be in high school. Kagami could feel a vein pulse on his temple but chose to keep his composure.

"W-Well we kind of settled our differences and realized we actually have quite a lot in common," Kagami said with a steady voice.

Aomine grumbled, "Well I guess you are pretty okay at basketball…" He stayed silent for a while. "Hey, do I still play? Basketball I mean…" Aomine had a concerned tone in his voice. I guess that would make sense considering his circumstances when he was sixteen.

"Yes, you do," Kagami gave a small smirk, "As a hobby, but you play at least a few times a week."

"Hobby?"Aomine didn't look too entirely happy with that answer.

"Well, yeah… A-Anyway, you aren't remembering anything?" Kagami wanted to change the subject.

"No…" Aomine said in a grumpy voice.

Kagami gave a sigh and Aomine 'tsked' in response, turning his head to face the window, the sun seemed to be setting now.

"Where do I live anyway? With my girlfriend?"

Kagami wanted to say 'Yes, you do live with your _boyfriend_ ' but of course, kept it to himself.

"Actually, we live together."

"Huh!?" Aomine turned his head to face him and was back to shouting unnecessarily loud.

"I-It's cheaper for both of us…" Kagami had to come up with another lie.

"Shit, we're the kind of friends that even live together?" Aomine asked with a slightly disgusted face.

"I guess you could say that…" Kagami said in an almost defeated tone.

"Damn, what the hell is wrong with the twenty-five year old me living with your dumb ass instead of my girlfriend…" Aomine mumbled to himself but obviously made it loud enough for Kagami to hear it. He went back to staring at the window.

Kagami could feel his vein pulse again and tried not to bite so hard into his lip that it would bleed. He honestly didn't know how he could've fallen for this guy when he was reminded of how he was at sixteen.

"Well, that's how it is!" Kagami said in a sarcastic tone.

Aomine gave another 'tsk' in response.

Kagami stood up from his chair, "Well, you're probably getting sick of me so I'll get going. But I'm coming back tomorrow to pick you up."

Kagami waited for a response but Aomine didn't move a muscle and kept staring out the window. After waiting a few moments Kagami turned and walked towards the door. He was about to shut it until Aomine finally spoke up.

"You called me 'Daiki', are we really that close of friends?" Aomine was still facing the window.

Kagami took a few seconds to reply, "Yeah, we're best friends," Kagami attempted a smile and closed the door behind him.

After completing even more forms before leaving the hospital, Kagami got back to his car and rested his head on the steering wheel. He let out a sigh and felt hot tears roll down his face. He sniffled as his body shook and tried to muffle his sobs from being too loud.

He had been crying all day in the waiting room but apparently he still had some tears left in him. They were all tears of worry and grief, not wondering whether Aomine would be okay or not. But now his tears were more tears of anger and frustration. Why did this have to happen to Aomine and why can't he remember all the years they spent together? Kagami felt terrible but he was so angry at Aomine for not remembering him. The same man that would tell him every night that he loved him was now acting as if Kagami was the bane of his existence. He knew he shouldn't be mad at him, he really shouldn't be but he couldn't help it, and that in turn made him angry at himself.

Kagami slammed a fist into the dashboard and continued to cry, soaking the steering wheel in his tears. It took him a good ten minutes to finally find his composure again. He shouldn't be hopeless about this situation but it was really hard. He should be happy that Aomine's only issue was the amnesia but he felt ungrateful.

Wiping the last tears from his face he started up the engine to his car. Maybe he just needed a good night's rest to calm his nerves and who knows, maybe Aomine would remember everything by morning…


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami would've liked to have just gone home and rest, but he realized that an Aomine that had no idea about their actual relationship was coming home tomorrow. So he painstakingly swept the house of anything that screamed 'a couple lives here!' taking down pictures and moving all of Aomine's stuff into the spare room. Luckily they often had friends over and had decided to get a place with a spare bedroom. Kagami wasn't really sure what to do with the stack of pictures he had taken down so he just stuffed them in a cardboard box and placed them in his closet. The photobook was too big so he just shoved it under his bed. Things in the bathroom were all separated neatly instead of all jumped together. As for Aomine's things, he arranged them in the spare bedroom to make it look like it was a room that was used. Even then, it still looked really empty but that was really all Kagami could do. After making sure the house was 'safe' it was already late at night and instead of Kagami relaxing into a calm sleep, he just passed out from exhaustion.

He was lucky he set his alarm or else he might've slept through the entire day… Or not. Kagami might've slept like a log last night but it was the most uncomfortable sleep he had had in a long time. It's not like he hadn't slept in the bed without Aomine before, with their jobs being what they were, but not having him there and knowing that he was sitting in the hospital and the worry of bringing him home weighed a lot on his nerves.

Arriving at the hospital, Kagami had to fill out even more papers for Aomine's release and finally he was able to take him home. Unfortunately, there was no progress in trying to regain Aomine's memory but the doctor cleared him okay to go home. Aomine grumbled about having to be wheeled out in a wheel chair but somehow the nurse managed to explain to him that it was hospital protocol. The drive home was relatively silent considering Aomine fell asleep almost right away. He had been put on a bunch of painkillers and wasn't quite out of it from the mild sedative to help him sleep the previous night. So Kagami had to shake him awake when they arrived at the house because there was no way he was going to carry him in.

"Nn…" Aomine rubbed his eyes and seemed to not be too happy about his sleep being disturbed.

"We're here. I'll help walk you to the door but I need you to be kind of awake for that," Kagami unbuckled his seatbelt and turned off the car engine.

Aomine just stared at the house in front of him and waited for Kagami to come around the passenger side to come get him.

"This is our house? It's a lot nicer than I expected. I expected some cheap apartment or something," Aomine commented as Kagami lent a shoulder to help Aomine step out of the car.

"Uh, yeah, we have pretty stable jobs so we were able to afford a decent place…" The time to come up with random white lies had begun.

"I thought you said something about us living together because it was easy to afford? If we could afford this I'm sure we could afford to live on our own," Aomine grumbled.

"Um…" Kagami wracked his brain, "I-It's a lot more complicated than that."

"Whatever…" Aomine grumbled, trying to stand on his own.

Kagami was grateful for whatever drugs Aomine was on because he seemed a lot more docile and wasn't putting up a fight about being helped.

Aomine reluctantly allowed Kagami to assist him to the front door and into the house. After managing to get the both of their shoes off, Kagami walked Aomine towards the spare bedroom… Well now it was Aomine's bedroom; hopefully temporarily.

"It's nice inside too…" he mumbled.

"Yeah I make sure to keep it looking clean and organized…" Kagami paused, "Does anything look familiar? Anything coming back to you?" He asked, hopeful.

"Nope," Aomine said plainly as they arrived to the bedroom.

"Ah, I see…" Kagami tried not to sound too disheartened.

Kagami helped Aomine over to the bed and straightened himself up.

"Alright. Now, if you need anything just shout. I suggest you get as much rest as you can. I'll change your bandage and cook you something to eat when you wake up. Ah," Kagami held up a finger when he remembered something, "Don't get out of the bed, ok? Even if you have to go to the bathroom call for me and I'll help you walk there."

Kagami tried to think of other things to say.

"What are you, my mom?" Aomine gave a frown and a harsh look at Kagami.

"Well I'm the only one who can take care of you so you're going to have to deal with it," Kagami actually _did_ feel like Aomine's mother at that point.

Aomine just gave a disapproving click of his tongue and pulled the covers of the bed over him. "This room is so plain, I have a hard time believing it's mine," he grumbled.

"Anyway," Kagami continued to try and get Aomine distracted from the uncharacteristic room, "I've taken a week off of work so I'm pretty much going to be here all day so don't hesitate to ask for things. I'm at your every beck and call."

"That doesn't sound too appealing. Where's my girlfriend? Shouldn't she be the one taking care of me, not you?" Aomine still had enough energy to complain about everything still.

Kagami wanted to strangle his neck but more than that – that was actually kind of a good question. If someone's boyfriend or girlfriend had just been in a life threatening accident they'd probably be at their side constantly. Little did Aomine know, his lover _was_ the one taking care of him but Kagami had already put on this act that Aomine had this girlfriend all of a sudden.

"U-Uh…" Kagami stuttered, "Well, you know how she had that urgent business?" He asked. Aomine just nodded and Kagami continued, "W-Well it was actually for uh…" Kagami tried to think of something quick, "A modeling shoot… Yeah, she had to travel for a modeling shoot!" Kagami thought he was kind of brilliant for thinking of that. "Once in a lifetime thing, you know? And knowing that you were okay and entrusting me to you let her go without worries."

"For real? My girlfriend is a model?" Aomine asked with a raised brow. Thank God the sixteen-year old Aomine was pretty much an idiot and would forget all logic when it came to hot girls.

"Y-Yep!" Kagami gave an exaggerated nod. "Quite the looker…"

"Awesome, I wanna see her. Do I have any pictures of her?" Aomine gave a glance around the room.

"Ah, uh…" Dammit this lie was getting more and more elaborate, "I don't know, you might have personal ones but I wouldn't know where they are," Kagami shrugged, "But, uh, she's brand new at modeling so this is actually her first photoshoot."

"Oh, I see," Aomine stopped glancing around the room. "I'll look for some pictures later then; even right now I'm too tired to do anything." He settled back down on the pillow.

"Yeah, get some rest," Kagami was glad that conversation was over.

"Whatever," Aomine grumbled, pulling the sheets over him.

After asking if Aomine was fine, Kagami quietly left the room. Closing the door, he let out a huge sigh. This was going to be hard, and even after his breakdown yesterday Kagami knew he had to try and be positive.

Aomine slept for a good part of the day and Kagami managed to get a small nap in after calling up Kuroko, Momoi, and Aomine's parents to let them know the situation and that everything seemed to be going fine. Kuroko and Momoi were both very close friends since high school and both had known Aomine before Kagami even did, so they were of course called up by Kagami when the accident happened. Despite Kuroko being a very flat-toned speaker and could come off as indifferent, he was very good at giving some comforting words whenever Kagami didn't have Aomine to depend on. He was good at those kinds of things even in high school. Momoi of course was like a worried mother hen, so the relief in her voice that Aomine was doing well was obvious even over the phone.

Kagami woke up in the afternoon to make an early dinner which Aomine raved over, saying how surprised he was that Kagami could cook so well. It was pretty amusing to see Aomine's reaction to Kagami's cooking for the first time… for a second time. It also seemed to earn some brownie points with the sixteen-year old Aomine, which was obviously a good thing.

Changing the bandage on his head was kind of difficult though as Aomine complained a lot about how it hurt and Kagami had a tough time looking at his wound.

Afterwards, Aomine reluctantly let Kagami escort him to the bathroom. Of course Kagami wouldn't go in with him so he waited outside for him to finish.

"WOAH!" Kagami heard Aomine shout from inside the bathroom. In a panic, he opened the door not even considering privacy.

"What is it?" Kagami said with a face full of worry.

Aomine was standing in front of the mirror, his mouth hanging open in shock as he stared hard at his reflection.

"I look so different, holy shit!" Aomine said, turning his head all different angles.

Kagami sighed in relief and just watched Aomine check himself out.

"You don't look much different so I didn't think I'd change so much, damn…" Kagami felt slightly insulted by that. Aomine lifted up his shirt, "Hah! I didn't think my body could look better than it already did!"

Aomine admired himself in the mirror for a little while longer and it was kind of embarrassing to watch.

"Uh, I'm gonna go back to waiting outside…" Kagami slowly shut the door behind him. He heard Aomine give somewhat of a mumble to acknowledge him before the door closed.

A little while of waiting later and Aomine was finally done in the bathroom.

"Hey, I'm gonna go lay out in the living room. It's boring sitting in the bedroom," Aomine walked past Kagami.

"H-Hey," Kagami grabbed Aomine by the wrist.

"Jeeze, I'm fine, I don't hurt as much anymore," Aomine yanked his arm away from Kagami's grasp. "Don't do it so much to the point it gets annoying…"

Kagami rolled his eyes and watched Aomine stalk off.

Aomine plopped himself down, "Ah this couch is so niiiice!"

The couch was a fabric sectional that wrapped half way around the room. He sprawled out and grabbed a pillow to prop himself up and grabbed the remote.

"Woooah this TV is super nice!" Aomine seemed amazed at the clear picture and the large size. "Dude, Kagami, how rich are we?"

"We aren't necessarily rich but we're pretty well off…"

Kagami walked into the kitchen to get himself a beer. He needed it, he felt like he was babysitting rather than nursing his boyfriend back to health. He sat on the other side of the sectional to join Aomine.

"Hey, Kagami, get me a drink too," he said once he saw what was in Kagami's hand.

"No, you're too young," he replied taking a sip.

"Like hell I am! I know I'm twenty-five years old!" Aomine growled, "Fine, I'll get it myself."

"Hey! Seriously, don't. The medicine your on will make you feel like shit if you drink," Kagami stopped Aomine who really looked like he was going to get one.

"Hmph…" Aomine sat back on the couch.

The two sat in awkward silence as some silly game show seemed to be on the television. It was starting to get kind of awkward until Aomine spoke up.

"What do we usually do anyway? We're best friends, right? And the doctor said it might help my memory if I do stuff I did before losing it. I'm sure we don't just sit and watch TV all day."

"Uh…"

Kagami had to think for a bit because lately the both of them had been so busy they didn't have much time to do anything together. Really, the only thing they had done the past few weeks was say goodbye to each other in the morning and have dinner together at night before going to bed… And well, of course sex. No matter how busy their lives were, Aomine _always_ made sure there was time for sex. But of course, there was no way Kagami was going to do that with the mentally sixteen-year old Aomine even if he wanted to.

"Well, we watch TV and movies sometimes… We play basketball but you aren't in any shape to do that as of right now, we go to the beach but it's kind of cold right now…" Kagami wracked his brain for things that weren't date destinations or something besides 'cuddling', 'kissing', and 'fucking', "Oh, we haven't played any video games in a while," Kagami got off the couch and walked over to a shelf that had various movies and games.

"Guess that's better than nothing," Aomine grumbled.

Kagami put in a game and walked over handing Aomine a game controller and sat next to him.

"What are we playing?" Aomine asked, fiddling with the controller that seemed familiar but slightly different.

"A basketball game; NBA Jam," Kagami replied clicking through the intros and starting the game.

"What the hell, this is all in English. I can't understand any of it," Aomine complained.

"You don't really need to know much to play; I'll tell you what you need to know."

Kagami had to explain the controls and the gist of the game but since Aomine already knew everything there was to know about basketball it wasn't necessary to explain any rules. Aomine caught on how to play the game pretty quickly.

"Ah, jerk! You stole the ball!" Aomine shouted, jamming several buttons on the controller as if that was going to get the ball back.

Kagami chuckled, "You should know that's how the game is played." Kagami scored a goal with ease.

"If this was a real basketball game I'd be kicking your ass," Aomine tried to gain control of the ball again.

"Oh really?" Kagami said and managed to defend the ball and score another shot.

"I'm going to beat you in this too, just watch," Aomine furrowed his brow in determination.

Kagami smirked, "We'll see about that."

Aomine elbowed Kagami in the side which resulted in him managing to steal the ball away.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Kagami nudged him back.

"I gotta do what I gotta do," Aomine gave a half-smirk and made a comeback by scoring a goal.

"You're gonna regret that," it was on now.

* * *

"Arg! You only won because you've played this before!" Aomine tossed the controller down on the couch beside him. He didn't lose by much but Kagami still secured a sure victory.

"Haha, you just don't know it but we used to play this game all the time," Kagami set his controller down and leaned his back against the couch. He turned his head to face Aomine.

"Yeah, well I don't remember," Aomine replied, throwing a glance at Kagami.

Kagami kept his gaze on Aomine and smiled but it seemed a little sad.

"What's wrong?" Aomine noticed.

"Ah… It's nothing," Kagami turned his head back to facing the TV that still showed the results of the game.

"…Sorry," Aomine said quietly.

"Hn?" Kagami went back to looking in Aomine's direction.

"Sorry I can't remember anything," he said a bit louder.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Kagami said. "It's not like you can help it… if you can't remember you can't remember." Kagami tried to give a reassuring smile, "I'm positive things will work out. I'm just happy you weren't badly hurt…"

"Me too I guess," Aomine crossed his arms and averted his eyes.

Kagami said that he was positive but honestly, he really wasn't sure. He tried to not be so negative about the situation, but having Aomine sitting next to him and not being the Aomine that shares this house with him and loves him is so damn difficult. The person he loved the most in the world was right in front of him and he couldn't even hug him and tell him how much he loved him and how scared he was that he could've lost him.

Thinking of all of these things was just making him feel more and more depressed despite the bit of fun he just had a moment ago. He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It really bothers me that I can't remember either, I'm really trying so…" Aomine wasn't facing Kagami but he looked sincere, "Thanks, I guess…" he mumbled softly.

Kagami let out a soft laugh and stood up from the couch. "How about I make something to snack on? I'm hungry again already…"

"You really eat a lot, don't you…?" Aomine commented but really, he wouldn't mind having more of Kagami's cooking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

"So… What exactly is it that we do for a living?" Aomine asked the next morning at breakfast.

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you yet. Well, I'm a firefighter," Kagami sat down to join Aomine at the table.

"No way, for real!?" Aomine actually seemed kind of impressed by that. "That's a pretty cool job, actually."

"Yeah, although it's a dangerous job it's really rewarding," Kagami grinned. "As for you, you actually work for a sports magazine."

"Huh? Really? I didn't expect I would wind up with a suit and tie kind of job… Although I guess it does have to do with sports." Aomine did look a little let down. "So none of us became some big basketball star, huh?"

Kagami wasn't sure how to answer that for a moment, "Well, I guess it's just… real life stuff, you know? I mean, basketball isn't so huge in Japan and there were other circumstances…" he trailed off. "But, we do still play basketball. All the time. When the injury on your head gets better we can go out and play a game," Kagami tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Good," Aomine responded, finishing up his food.

"Hmm, so you're missing basketball already?" Kagami asked, curious. It was really obvious when Aomine was in his first year of high school that he had completely lost his spark for basketball, so it intrigued Kagami that Aomine would be happy about playing it again.

"I'm just getting bored sitting around the house already; I want to go out and do something is all," Aomine said nonchalantly.

"Well… I guess we could go out and do something today. Maybe do some grocery shopping… There are a couple errands I have to get done…" Kagami seemed to be talking to himself at this point.

"Tsk, that sounds boring," Aomine replied.

"Er, I guess it is," Kagami scratched his head. "Well, I really do have to get some groceries so how about we go and I'll make a nice dinner tonight?"

He and Aomine hadn't done something like that in a while. Considering Kagami knew all of Aomine's favorites he'd often just stop by the store by himself after work.

Aomine just gave a grunt.

"W-We could get a movie or something too?" Kagami didn't know how to handle Aomine when he was sixteen and he still didn't know even today.

Aomine gave a short laugh, "Dinner and a movie… What are we, a married couple?"

Kagami sighed in frustration and stood up from the table.

"If you don't like that idea, think of something else," he grabbed their plates and headed towards the sink.

"Jeeze, calm down. That idea sounds fine I was just teasing."

Kagami remained silent for a moment before turning around to face Aomine. "Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten frustrated like that anyway."

"It doesn't really matter. I'll go get changed," Aomine stood up from his chair and walked towards his room.

"Oh, don't forget I have to change you bandage!" Kagami shouted after him.

"Alright, mom!" he shouted back.

* * *

"So many movies have come out since I was sixteen…" Aomine scanned the shelf at the video store.

"Well, of course. It was nine years ago," Kagami replied, sliding a movie back onto the shelf.

"Ehh, I'll just let you pick. I'm going to go look at the magazines," Aomine walked off and left Kagami alone.

Kagami decided not to get a romantic comedy, figuring Aomine would say that it's 'dumb and girly'. Although the twenty-five year old Aomine would probably say the same thing, he would still watch it without complaint. Kagami was far from effeminate but his choices in movies were rather popular with the female crowd. Settling on an action flick, Kagami walked over to where Aomine was, seeming to desperately be looking through every magazine.

"Err, are you looking for something in particular?" Kagami spoke up.

"Yeah! I can't find any magazines with Mai-chan on them, there's a bunch of other photobooks but they're not nearly as nice as any of Mai-chan's…" Aomine continued thumbing through the magazines.

Kagami hitched an eyebrow and wondered what the hell Aomine was talking about. Taking a second to think about it, he finally remembered.

"Oh! Mai-chan!" Kagami said in realization, "Yeah, she retired a while ago when she got married and had a kid. I'm not sure if she ever picked up doing modeling again after that."

Aomine froze in place and looked behind him at Kagami.

"What? Mai-chan got married? And had a k-kid?" the expression on his face was of pure shock.

"Yeah, sorry… Around that time you kind of got over her though…" Kagami was remembering how obsessed the young Aomine was with the model.

"I can't believe it!" Aomine let out a frustrated groan.

"Er, how about his one?" Kagami picked up a random model magazine and Aomine frowned.

"It's not the same! Someone like you wouldn't understand," Aomine pushed the magazine away and trudged off.

Kagami sighed, placed the magazine back on the rack, and went to catch up with Aomine.

"At least I got the movie?" Kagami tried to reassure, holding the movie up.

"Yeah, whatever," Aomine looked like he was going to remain in a glum mood. Who knew Aomine was that concerned with his models at this age?

After checking the movie out, the two walked over to the nearby grocery store. This one was Kagami's favorite as it was close enough to home and had very fresh ingredients. He may scarf down large proportions at a time but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be well-prepared dishes. Plus, of course, he wasn't only cooking for himself.

Kagami grabbed a cart and dug through his pockets for his grocery list. He always wrote one because he knew he'd most likely forget what he'd come for even if he had made the night's dish a dozen times. It was easy for him to get sidetracked by other things and end up buying more than he needed.

As he struggled to unfold the paper that had crumpled in his pockets, Aomine walked past him without a word and seemed to be going off on his own.

"Where are you going?" Kagami called out, noticing Aomine was leaving him.

"Huh? The bread isle, obviously," Aomine stopped and made a face as if to say 'where else would I be going?'

Kagami was a little shocked to hear that, "How did you know I always grab bread first?"

Aomine seemed to have actually thought about that question for a moment but then shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, just seemed like the first thing to pick up.

Kagami's jaw dropped slightly as he swiftly pushed the cart up to where Aomine had stopped.

"Are you starting to remember something?" Kagami said with a hopeful look on his face.

"Er, no…" Aomine did wonder why he just started to walk over to that isle without any hesitation but waved it off to just pure coincidence.

Kagami's face visibly fell, "Oh… Alright then."

Kagami pushed the cart past Aomine and continued towards the bread isle. Aomine furrowed his brow and gave a 'tsk' over the reaction Kagami had. Why did he look so sad every time Aomine said his memories weren't returning? It would make sense for your friend to be a little upset over you not remembering them, but Kagami always looked extremely saddened – like it physically hurt him for Aomine to have this amnesia. Kagami's reactions really bothered Aomine.

* * *

After the pair had returned home, Kagami headed straight to the kitchen to get started on dinner. Aomine waltzed over to the couch and plopped himself down, turning on the TV. Flipping through the channels, it didn't take long for Aomine to notice an enticing smell coming from the kitchen. Getting curious and bored of all the TV had to offer, Aomine made his way into the kitchen to see what Kagami was cooking.

Kagami was standing over the stove with various things laid out on the counter next to it. He seemed to be cooking something over the stove top; Aomine peeked over his shoulder to see what it was.

"Oh, I knew it you're making pork katsu!"

Kagami jumped a bit when he heard Aomine's voice from behind him.

"Yeah, it's one of your favorites right?" Kagami turned his head with a slight smile and went back to attending to the skillet in his hands.

"You bought so much food today I wasn't sure what you were going to be making… And I guess you know my favorite foods by now, huh?" It was strange to think that Kagami knew him so well, but apparently his tastes hadn't changed much because even at sixteen katsu was one of his favorite dishes.

"You could say that," Kagami said with his back still turned to Aomine. "It's going to be done soon so do you think you could get the plates out?"

"Tch, why do I have to do it, aren't you supposed to be taking care of me?" Aomine scoffed.

"All I asked was for you to get the dishes, jeeze!" Kagami said in an irritated tone.

"I was just messing with you. And it's not like I know what cabinet the dishes are in," Aomine crossed his arms.

"O-Oh, that's right…" Kagami's tone changed into that forlorn tone he had every time he was reminded that Aomine had lost his memory. "The dishes are in the second cabinet from the left."

Aomine was surprisingly being well-behaved despite the situation and the fact that the two had not gotten along necessarily when they were sixteen, so Kagami wasn't sure why he snapped at Aomine occasionally even over little things. Sure the guy was very much acting like the brat he was at that age, but they weren't things for Kagami to get angry over. He knew he was stressed so he was attempting to make this night relaxing, so he made a mental note to bear with any other snobbish comments Aomine would make for the remainder of the night.

After Aomine had gotten the plates and Kagami placed the food on them he suggested they make an exception and eat in the living room while they watched the movie. Kagami didn't particularly like eating on the couch because he could admit they were both messy eaters, but he wanted to get Aomine to warm up to him as much as possible.

Popping the movie in and settling down on the couch, Aomine took his first bite of his food. His face clearly showed that he liked it.

"I hate to admit it but this is probably the best katsu I've ever had…" he mumbled through a mouthful.

Kagami stifled a laugh at Aomine's cheeks that were stuffed with food. "I'm glad – maybe I'll make it another time?"

Of course he'd make it another time, Aomine was his boyfriend, wasn't he? But Kagami had to treat him as if he was just a friend, not only just a friend but the Aomine from nine years ago. He didn't want to get used to this situation, he wanted his Aomine back as soon as possible. He didn't want to start getting attached to Aomine's former self, because little did Kagami know back then, this was probably the Aomine he had so stupidly started to fall in love with. He had a nasty attitude and had nothing but crass words to say, but Kagami realized later in life that he had probably fell in love with the jerk somehow way back in his first year. Why else would he have stuck with him until they began a friendship that slowly turned into something more?

The movie wasn't that great but it was something to occupy their minds for a time. Aomine was just content with his full stomach, occasionally throwing in his own commentary about the movie.

"That movie wasn't that great… maybe I should've gone with the romantic comedy I initially picked out," Kagami slumped into the couch.

"What the hell, I wouldn't have watched a stupid movie like that," Aomine commented. Kagami knew that and that's exactly why he didn't get it.

Aomine yawned as the credits rolled, he was still on a pretty early-to-bed-early-to-rise sleeping schedule and all of the painkillers he was taking didn't help much with his fatigue.

"Ah, let's go change your bandage and then you can get to bed," Kagami suggested, standing up from the couch.

"I think I can change it by myself by now," Aomine responded and walked past Kagami.

"I don't think you can, it's more difficult than it looks…" Kagami went after him.

"You just clean it out and wrap the bandage around my head, I think I can manage that," Aomine opened the door to the bathroom and before he knew it he felt a grip around his wrist.

"No… Just let me do it, please…" Kagami said in a low voice, staring at the ground and maintaining his hold on Aomine's wrist.

Aomine remained silent for a moment and let out a short sigh. "Fine, do whatever you want."

* * *

Kagami lay in bed, refusing to get up even though it was morning and he knew Aomine would probably be waking up soon. Rolling over on his side, he dug through his nightstand drawer and picked up a phone.

Aomine's phone had actually made it through the crash and it was given to Kagami when they recovered it from the crash site. Of course, Kagami had lied and told Aomine that it was damaged because there was so much stuff on it that Kagami didn't want him knowing about – mostly all the pictures of them together and text messages they exchanged. Deleting the texts would be easy enough but Kagami didn't want to bring himself to delete all of the pictures.

He went through the gallery and scrolled through them, seeing pictures of them smiling while going out to various places made Kagami's heart ache. Most were just of him so there weren't too many pictures of Aomine himself; those were all on Kagami's phone.

"It's probably bad to keep this laying around… Maybe I'll lock it up in the safe for now," Kagami rolled out of bed and dug through to the back of the closet to their safe where they kept important documents. It seemed like over-kill, but Kagami really wasn't ready to tell Aomine about their true relationship and it would be bad if he found his phone.

Kagami heard a knock and quickly closed up the safe and the closet door.

"Come in," he called and Aomine cracked the door and peaked in.

"You weren't jerkin' it, right?" He asked.

Kagami sighed, "No, I wasn't."

"Good because I'm hungry and I don't want you making me food after you've touched your dick," Aomine said in a sly tone.

Kagami furrowed his brow and really tried to not mention the fact that Aomine _had_ tasted his dick plenty of times before so the joke was on him. Deciding it was for the best to not make that kind of remark, Kagami walked out of the room past Aomine and headed towards the kitchen.

Kagami grabbed the ingredients and cookware needed for breakfast while Aomine pulled up a chair at the dining table and watched Kagami do his thing as if he were on autopilot.

Aomine watched for a while in silence until he spoke up, "Hey, do you think I can call my girlfriend?"

Kagami froze and turned his head a bit to the side, "Uh, I'm not sure… Your phone got destroyed in the accident, remember?"

"She didn't give you her number since she basically entrusted my well-being to you?" Aomine asked.

"No, I don't know it so sorry about that," Kagami tried not to say in an irritated tone but let a little bit of his true feelings slip.

"Dammit…" Aomine grumbled.

"Why do you want to speak to her so bad?" That was a dumb question but Kagami was curious.

"I dunno, I just have this feeling that I really must've liked this girl," Aomine leaned back in his chair. "I just feel that she made me really happy. It sounds stupid since I don't remember her at all but I can't help but feel she's probably the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with…"

Aomine had started speaking like he was alone in the room; or more like it was this girl he was talking to instead of Kagami. Kagami felt his heart clench when he heard Aomine talk, he couldn't help but wonder if that was actually Aomine remembering what his twenty-five year old self felt for him or if it was just the fleetingness of teenage love.

"Y-You sound so uncharacteristically cheesy," Kagami stuttered, keeping his back turned to Aomine. He definitely didn't want him seeing his eyes starting to tear up.

"Shut up! Can't I say how I feel once in a while…" Aomine mumbled under his breath. "Oh, but isn't it a good thing? That means I might be remembering something. Maybe once I see her all of my memories will come back to me. Ah, now I wish she'd hurry back…"

Kagami's throat stung as he continued to hold back his tears and kept making breakfast. This person that Aomine was waiting for wasn't going to return. The person that Aomine believed to be his true love was actually right in front of him and it did nothing to help him regain his memories.

If the person Aomine loved most in the world couldn't cure his amnesia, was Kagami really meant to be with him? Kagami couldn't help but have that question drill itself into his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Kagami sighed, unwrapping his second burger and taking a bite.

"Kagami-kun," a plain voice came from beside him, shocking him a bit.

"Oh, Kuroko, you're here," Kagami set the burger down and looked up.

"Yes, I just got here," Kuroko sat down at the seat across from Kagami. "You haven't called me out to a Maji Burger since college. What did you need to talk about?"

Kuroko was pretty much Kagami's consultant whenever Aomine wasn't available. Kuroko was basically the one who helped both he and Aomine realize their feelings for each other. He may have a minimal presence and a very monotonous way of talking, but Kuroko had very good advice to give.

"Yeah, I can't stay very long and we can't talk at my house so I figured we'd just meet outside," Kagami sighed. "I just… I just need a break from Daiki is all."

"That doesn't sound like you, Kagami-kun. Even when Aomine-kun has something as small as a cough you won't even leave his side because you're acting like he might die at any moment," Kuroko narrowed his eyes.

"I-I'm not that dramatic…" Kagami protested. "This is different… Daiki just isn't the Daiki I live with anymore… He's the one from high school and I just don't know how to properly deal with him. We're actually getting along pretty well for the most part but I have such a short temper with him and he just kind of seems so distant at times."

"Well, shouldn't you just think of what your sixteen-year old self would do? How did you deal with him then?" Kuroko questioned.

"Uh, we fought a lot, remember?" Kagami rested his head on his hand. "We kind of even denied our friendship for a while; let alone when we started to develop feelings for each other."

"That is true," Kuroko nodded in agreement.

"And, well… It's not just that…" Kagami said nervously. "Daiki thinks that… he has a girlfriend…"

There was a bit of silence between the two.

"That was your stupid idea, wasn't it?" Kuroko said bluntly.

"What else was I supposed to do!? He was expecting his 'partner' to come through the door and in walks me!" Kagami explained.

Kuroko crossed his arms, "Why didn't you just say his partner _was_ you?"

"Are you crazy? He would've freaked out, and I definitely didn't need that with his condition and his injuries," Kagami grumbled. "Besides, I did that in the hopes that his amnesia would go away soon but so far no luck…"

"So you've gotten yourself into a bit of a problem," Kuroko concluded.

"Pretty much," Kagami let out a deep sigh. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong; why isn't he remembering? He's in the house he lives in, he's with me all day, I've tried making him all his favorite foods – nothing seems to work."

"Have you been intimate with him?" Kuroko asked bluntly.

"N-No!" Kagami's cheeks slightly reddened. "And I'm not going to…"

"Just watch a porn film together and offer to jerk him off," Kuroko said with a straight face.

"Kuroko this is serious!" Kagami looked around the restaurant in the hopes that people weren't hearing the conversation they were having.

"Sorry, I apologize," Kuroko cleared his throat, "Have you taken him to play basketball yet?"

"Not yet but today I plan too. I wanted to wait until his injuries healed a bit. I told him he could sleep in late and we'd go out after his appointment with the doctor."

"That may possibly help since I know deep down, Aomine-kun still loved basketball the most when he was that age," Kuroko said.

"Yeah, that's my goal – that basketball will help jog his memory," Kagami finished the rest of his burger in a few bites. "I just wished that being around me and the house would've done the trick…" Kagami slumped in his chair. "He's hoping his made-up girlfriend will be the thing that helps him with his memory; it makes me really wonder if I'm really the person that's supposed to be with him. Hell, it makes me wonder if he even really loves me…"

Kagami felt a painful lump in his throat. He never wanted to admit that his fear was that Aomine wasn't truly in love with him. Because isn't that how it's supposed to be – the person you love can fix anything for you?

"Kagami-kun, can I tell you a story? Aomine-kun told me not to tell you but I feel like this is an appropriate reason to break that promise," Kuroko seemed serious.

"Sure…" Kagami became attentive to what Kuroko was about to say.

"Do you remember that huge apartment fire about six months ago, the one that took your department four hours to put out?"

"Oh yeah, that was a pretty terrible fire…" Kagami replied, wondering what this had to do with his situation.

"It was very late at night and I was asleep when it started but I was woken up with a loud banging on my door. I would've ignored it but it was so loud and wouldn't stop so I answered it and it was Aomine-kun."

Kagami raised an eybrow. He was alerted to the station that night for the fire and had to quickly run out of the house. He just remembered waking up Aomine and telling him there was an emergency at work.

"I had never seen Aomine-kun like he was that night," Kuroko continued. "He looked very worried and like he was about to burst into tears. He asked if he could stay over at my house and I asked what was troubling him. He told me to turn on the news and that was when I saw the fire. Aomine-kun said that you had gone to fight that fire and when he turned on the television after you left he saw one of the buildings collapse and he got worried."

Kagami had a shocked look on his face; he didn't know any of this.

"He then asked me to turn off the television because he didn't want to see anymore. I went to get him a drink and sat down with him and asked him why he was so upset. You had gone to fight fires before so I was curious as to why this one bothered him so much. He said that he had never actually seen the fires you fought so it never really crossed his mind to exactly how dangerous your job really was.

'Seeing that building collapse, I thought about what if Taiga had been in there,' he said. 'At that moment I suddenly thought about if I lost him because of a fire he went to put out and I couldn't stand it.'

He really looked like he was distressed over it and I tried telling him that you were great at what you did and there was no reason to worry. But he just remained being upset. He didn't say very much after that and just buried his face in his hands; all I could do was comfort him. It took him a while to speak again.

'I don't want to lose him,' he said. 'I'll die if I lose him'. I know he was covering his face because he didn't want me to see him crying, but I knew that Aomine was genuinely dreading the idea of ever losing you – whether it be because of a fire or a falling out between the two of you."

Kagami looked at Kuroko in bewilderment. He never knew that his job ended up causing Aomine to worry so much. In fact, that day when he returned from the fire, Aomine seemed fine. All he did was say 'You smell like smoke, I hate it,' but he always said that, and Kagami would always reply with 'No matter how hard I try I can't get the smell off of me.'

"He fell asleep not long after and I woke him up and took him back to your house before you got home. He seemed to have settled down after venting to me and asked me to not mention what happened to you." Kuroko finished up his story and looked at Kagami with a serious expression, "Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun loves you very much. I believe even with this amnesia, he knows that he loves you but he just doesn't realize it yet. So don't give up on him so easily," Kuroko gave a slight smile.

Kagami was grateful to hear all of this from his friend and returned a smile, "Thanks, Kuroko. That makes me feel better, oddly enough. I'm kind of shocked that he did something like that…" Kagami felt a re-newed sense of confidence knowing that Aomine truly loved him. Whatever nagging feeling he previously had that made him doubt their feelings for each other suddenly vanished.

"Aomine-kun is actually quite a sensitive person, he just rarely shows it," Kuroko replied.

"Yeah, I know, he hates showing his vulnerable side even to me," Kagami gave a short laugh and pulled out his phone to look at the time. "Ah, his appointment is soon so he's probably awake by now. I have to get going but thanks for meeting up with me," Kagami stood up and Kuroko did likewise.

"It's no problem, I've had to look after you two since high school," Kuroko joked. "I would suggest revealing to him the fact that he doesn't have a girlfriend and you're the one he's dating, but that is up to you. I understand if you choose not to, though, but Aomine going on with the pretense that he has a girlfriend might work against you."

"… You might be right, so I'll think about it. Thanks again, Kuroko."

The two said their goodbyes and Kagami rushed back to the house, keeping Kuroko's words in mind and hoping this would help him be more optimistic about the situation.

* * *

When Aomine was called into the office to see the doctor, Kagami went into the room with him. It was a typical, boring examination room with various posters about the human body and pamphlets for new drugs you should ask your doctor about. Aomine sat on the examination chair and Kagami pulled up the guest chair.

"Why did you have to come in with me?" Aomine seemed a little irked. "And where were you this morning?"

"The doctor might have some important things to ask me! And I left you a note next to the breakfast I made; I was just running errands…" Kagami grumbled.

"Errands, huh?" Aomine didn't seem to believe him.

"It's true!"

"You weren't out meeting your girlfriend or something?"

"Huh?" Kagami was a little shocked at the accusation.

"You've been holed up with me for the past few days, and you probably have a girlfriend, right? That's who you're always texting when you're on your phone, isn't it? You're always looking at your phone with a weird expression…"

Damn, Aomine is a lot more observant than Kagami took him for. Kagami couldn't help but sit and look through pictures on his phone whenever he was feeling down, even if Aomine was in the same room. Apparently he had to stop doing that since this sixteen-year old Aomine had caught on.

"N-No, I don't have a girlfriend," Kagami denied, "I'm just texting my friends."

"I thought I was your only friend," Aomine said frankly.

"You're not my only friend, you're my _best_ friend!" Kagami was slightly offended by that comment.

"Huh… I can't believe you have more than one friend," Aomine said with a snarky grin.

"Shut the hell up, I have plenty of friends," Kagami glared at Aomine.

Aomine just let out a booming laugh. Kagami felt himself getting angry, but once he realized that Aomine was genuinely laughing, which he hadn't done since the accident, made all malice disappear and he let out a laugh himself.

"You get so defensive," Aomine settled down from the laughter but was still smiling.

"Well, of course, you make it seem like I'm some kind of loser," Kagami replied.

"That's because you are."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kagami waved it off, seeing as Aomine was just trying to push his buttons now.

Not a moment later, there was a knock on the door and the doctor came in.

"Hello, Mr. Aomine, how've you been?" The same doctor from the day he woke up in the hospital greeted him.

"Fine," Aomine was short. He didn't necessarily want to come today but he had to in order to get a check-up to make sure he was doing fine since the accident.

"How is your memory?" The doctor continued, clicking random things on the tablet in his hands.

"I don't remember a thing," Aomine gave another short answer.

"That's a shame…" the doctor mumbled.

"I've been trying to get him to do the things we usually do but it isn't working yet," Kagami spoke up. "But I want to take him to play basketball today; that's something we both enjoy doing. I think his injuries are healed up enough for physical activity but I wanted to make sure with you to see if he's good to go."

"His injuries should be healed enough but I would like to do a check-up. Also run some tests to see if his memory has improved at all," the doctor spoke while still clicking and looking down at his tablet.

Aomine gave a short sigh.

"Alright then," the doctor finally looked up. "Let's do a physical and then we'll do some test for your memory."

* * *

"How long are you going to take? Jeeze…" Aomine huffed by the doorway while Kagami fiddled with something in the kitchen.

"Hold on! I'm getting some water bottles. You sure are eager to go play basketball for someone who's gotten bored with it," Kagami replied, remember how the Aomine he first met felt about basketball.

"I told you it's just because I get bored being cooped up in this house," Aomine defended himself.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready so let's head out."

Aomine pulled open the door and Kagami followed close behind. The local public basketball court was a short distance from their house so it wasn't a very long walk. Taking into account their job locations, both Kagami and Aomine had liked this house because of how close it was to the nearby basketball court.

Aomine was good to go as far as physical activity went. In fact, he was completely fine sans the amnesia. The doctor seemed to be troubled by the fact that Aomine seemed to not remember anything. Even though he tried to hide this worry, Kagami knew that's exactly what the doctor was feeling. Kagami was filled with anxiety that even the doctor seemed to be concerned with Aomine's memory, but he wiped the troubles from his mind in the hopes that playing some basketball today would be good for the both of them.

Aomine was the first on the court and bounced the ball he brought from the house a couple times on the pavement.

"Kind of weird how this feels like I haven't done this in a while," he mumbled.

Kagami set his bag with towels and the water bottles down and stretched his hands over his head.

"Alright, one-on-one?"

"What else?" Aomine dribbled the ball across the court.

Kagami stood opposite of Aomine and readied himself. "Anytime you're ready," he gave a smirk of confidence.

"Hmph," Aomine snorted and moved quickly past Kagami.

Kagami turned around just as fast to prevent Aomine from getting much further. Aomine made to turn but found himself tripping over his feet.

"Shit!" he hissed and lost grip of the ball.

Kagami wasted no time to gain control of the ball himself, making his way quickly to the hoop and scoring a point as Aomine was still recovering from his stumble.

"What the hell… it feels like this isn't even my body…" Aomine said in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Kagami turned around.

"I dunno, I hadn't had any issues with walking around before but now that I'm playing basketball it feels like everything is… off," Aomine grumbled.

"Hmm, well, you are in an adult's body now. Even though you can walk and do every-day stuff just fine, I guess with something as precise as basketball – especially the way you play – it'd be a little difficult to get used to," Kagami threw the ball in Aomine's direction.

"Tch," Aomine clicked his tongue and caught the ball. "That's stupid. Whatever, I'll still beat you."

Kagami gave a short laugh, "We'll see how that goes."

It took a while for Aomine to get used to playing basketball in his adult body but once he got the hang of it he was good to go. But at that point, things like the score didn't matter because he was having so much fun playing against Kagami. It was an exciting feeling he hadn't felt in a long time – playing basketball was actually fun again and he couldn't help but smile when getting past Kagami to shoot the ball through the hoop was an actual challenge. Before he knew it, the sun was going down and he was feeling exhausted from the lack of physical activity the past week.

Kagami trotted over to grab a towel and took a swig from his water bottle, "Hah, I'm tired now," he wiped the sweat from his brow and threw a towel over to Aomine who was coming to join him.

"Damn, you're better than I thought," Aomine was still trying to catch his breath and wiped his face with the towel.

"Huh, didn't think I'd hear you say that about someone as lame as me," Kagami teased, giving Aomine a light jab on the arm.

"You're still lame but you're pretty good at basketball," Aomine smirked and returned the jab.

Kagami let out a laugh and took another sip of his water.

"That was kind of fun I guess… Thanks," Aomine mumbled, avoiding Kagami's eyes.

Kagami remained silent for a moment then clapped a hand on Aomine's shoulder, "No problem, I think I needed to let some steam out too."

Kagami gathered up their things and the two started to head back to the house before it got dark. The walk was quiet since the two were a bit worn out from their game.

"You aren't so bad to live with, I guess… I can maybe see why we ended up being friends," Aomine said suddenly.

Kagami looked over in surprise, "Really? I thought I was being kind of an asshole to you…"

Aomine kept looking forward, "Well, it's kind of expected since I was pretty much an asshole to you too…" he scratched the back of his head, "But this whole amnesia thing is hard on both of us so I guess I can forgive you."

"Thanks, Dai-Aomine…" Kagami had to correct himself but a grin still spread across his face.

Aomine glanced over to see Kagami's beaming face and quickly looked away, "Don't get all mushy on me," he grumbled.

Kagami gave a short laugh.

Aomine felt his face start to grow hot from seeing Kagami's smile. He prayed that said redhead wouldn't notice.


	5. Chapter 5

The next couple days went on surprisingly well. Kagami and Aomine seemed to have become more comfortable with each other and there was a lot less snapping remarks, especially on Kagami's end.

Kuroko had even come over for a brief visit one afternoon. Aomine was shocked to see how much Kuroko had grown compared to what he knew from high school, although he was still shorter than both he and Kagami. Kuroko seemed to have given a Kagami a judging glare when he realized that the big secret being kept from the oblivious Aomine was still a secret. Kagami pulled him aside before their friend left and promised Kuroko that he'd work it out and that the two were finally starting to get along so he didn't want to rush things if he didn't have to. Kuroko just nodded and chose to believe in Kagami's decisions before leaving.

But Kagami had to eventually get back to work even though Aomine's memory still seemed to not improve much. He worried about leaving Aomine alone at home but decided to not show it as it might come off as him not trusting Aomine alone.

Kagami was in the kitchen preparing lunch for Aomine for the next day for his return to work.

"That smells good…" Aomine waltzed into the kitchen after his shower.

"Yeah but you can't eat it now, it's for lunch tomorrow," Kagami kept his focus on chopping some vegetables.

"Huh…" Aomine paused and watched Kagami for a moment. "Can I help?"

Kagami was a bit taken aback by Aomine's question and glanced over his shoulder. "Uhh, sure? You really want to help?"

"If I didn't want to I wouldn't have asked," Aomine said and walked up to the stove where something seemed to be boiling in a pot.

"Well, then you can stir that so it doesn't burn," Kagami nodded towards the pot, "Unless you want to peel these potatoes instead?"

"Eh… I'll stick to stirring…" Aomine grabbed the wooden spoon set to the side and started stirring what looked like the beginnings of curry.

"I'm making enough to last a while so I hope you don't mind having the same thing for lunch a few days in a row."

Kagami said and lifted up a cutting board with some of the cut vegetables and slowly started to drop them into the pot. Aomine stirred the newly added ingredients in.

"That's fine, curry tastes pretty good as leftovers anyway – and this is my favorite, beef curry," Aomine stomach grumbled a bit at how good it smelled and looked.

"Yeah it's my favorite too so I make this all the time. You always got excited whenever you came home and smelled it when you got into the house," Kagami smiled warmly as he started chopping up the potatoes.

Aomine glanced over to Kagami, "… We had a lot of things we enjoyed doing together, huh?"

Kagami stopped chopping, "Er, well, we are pretty close," he said a bit nervously. Shit, he shouldn't show how happy he really is whenever he recalled him and Aomine as a couple.

Aomine gave a huff and went back to stirring, "Well this does look really good so I can see why I would get excited."

Kagami just nodded and went back to chopping the potatoes. It was quiet until Kagami finished and thanked Aomine for helping as he poured in the rest of the ingredients and allowed the pot to simmer as he lowered the heat.

Aomine went off to bed not long after and Kagami was left alone to keep an eye on the food and be in his own thoughts. Maybe he should finally break the news to Aomine that they were actually together, but he was scared that it wouldn't end so well. But then again, maybe it would be the thing that returned his memories to him. Kagami wasn't so sure if that'd be the case since nothing else he did seemed to work… But at this point he was getting desperate to have the normal Aomine back.

Normal? Well, wasn't this Aomine normal? It wasn't like this was someone pretending to be Aomine – this _was_ Aomine. It's just that right now he's sixteen. Maybe instead of having this mindset of waiting for him to come back, it should be more of a sense of welcoming him in. If Kagami didn't try so hard to make this sixteen-year old Aomine change and instead just accepted him things could work out.

Kagami let out a sigh as he worked the plan out in his head. Yes, instead of talking and behaving like the teenage Aomine was just going to up and leave, he should just be treating him like he's welcome to stay for good. Because the teenage Aomine _is_ the Aomine that Kagami loves, that was his past and it's what made him who he is today. It had to be rough on a kid to feel unwanted, and maybe that was causing some tension and maybe some unconscious resistance for wanting to regain his memories.

After his little self-taught psychology lesson, the curry was ready to come off of the stove and Kagami proceeded to seal it up into a large container and prepare for bed. It was a bit difficult falling asleep but he tried not to worry too much about the next day.

* * *

"You have my number, right? And don't forget the curry in the fridge and make sure you don't heat it up on those plates with the metal or it'll spark in the microwave. Oh! And please don't open up the door for anyone unless it's Kuroko, but I'd doubt he'd come over without a call," Kagami rambled on by the front door as he made sure he was comfortable with leaving Aomine at home.

"Jeeze, I get it! I'm not sure if you're a mom or a nagging wife now!" Aomine grumbled as he stood by the doorway, waiting for Kagami to leave.

"I just want to make sure you're going to be comfortable while I'm gone!" Kagami blushed slightly as he finished tying his boots up. He straightened himself up and grabbed the keys off the key hook. "And feel free to walk down to the court if you feel like playing, make sure you bring water!"

Aomine rolled his eyes, "Aren't you going to be late?"

"I don't have to necessarily be there at a certain time but I can take a hint," Kagami threw glance over at Aomine as he opened the door.

Aomine snorted as he leaned against the door frame, "Bye," he gave a small wave.

Kagami instinctively leaned in but caught himself and instead awkwardly patted Aomine on the shoulder. "See you later!"

 _'Shit, I almost tried to kiss him before leaving for work like I always do! That would've been so bad!'_ Kagami internally scolded himself as he got into his car.

Aomine gave a sigh when Kagami left and shuffled back to his bedroom. He was actually pretty tired but he wanted to see Kagami off before he left for work. Why? He didn't know. But when he heard Kagami getting ready in the morning he felt that he should send him off.

The next day went much the same, Kagami got up and Aomine got himself out of bed to say goodbye. The previous day he just spent it watching TV and walked down to the nearby supermarket to pick up a couple of magazines, and hit up the courts for a while. And of course, the curry was delicious and he was looking forward to eating it again the next day.

Kagami's co-workers all welcomed him back upon his return and all of them were concerned over how Aomine was doing. Kagami felt truly blessed to have such understanding people at the fire station with him. They all knew that Aomine was his lover and never had a negative thing to say about it, and of course they all became worried when Kagami suddenly called in for a week off to take care of him.

His first day back at work wasn't very eventful, just a few calls here and there unrelated to fire incidents. But his second day back called for a small house fire that was put out rather smoothly.

Kagami returned home not long after putting the fire out and decided to just take his shower at home as he was still worried about leaving Aomine alone for too long. He seemed to have done just fine the first day he was back at work but he still didn't want him to be alone longer than necessary.

"I'm back," Kagami called out after he shut the door behind him and proceeded to take off his boots.

"Hey," he heard a voice call out from the living room.

Kagami walked in to find Aomine playing NBA Jam.

"Oh, practicing, huh?" Kagami joked as he walked around the couch to watch a bit.

"Yeah, next time I'll definitely kick your ass," Aomine didn't take his eyes away from the television as his player made a shot from half-court. Aomine paused the game and glanced up at Kagami, "I gotta be honest, its kind of boring without you here."

Kagami smirked, "Oh, so you miss me?"

"Shut up, it's not like that," Aomine scratched the back of his neck and looked back at the TV screen, a little embarrassed over what he just said.

Kagami let out a chuckle and Aomine looked back over, "Your face is kind of dirty."

"Oh yeah, there was a fire today, typical electrical fire. Nothing too big and luckily no one was in the building," Kagami wiped at his cheek.

Aomine suddenly stood up from the couch and approached Kagami, getting more than close into his personal space.

"What are you-" Kagami took a step back as Aomine sniffed near the side of his neck.

"You smell like smoke…" Aomine said under his breath, looking back up Kagami.

"Yeah… that's usually how a smell after a fire…" Kagami was feeling uncomfortable at how close Aomine was.

"It stinks," Aomine turned his head and sat back down on the couch with a concerned look on his face as his brow scrunched up a bit.

Kagami stood wordless for a bit, "Um, I'll go take a shower then…"

Aomine didn't respond as Kagami made his way into the bathroom. What was that just now? The atmosphere was so incredibly strange, not only that, it was so similar to how Aomine usually reacted when Kagami came home after putting out a fire. Kagami ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He shouldn't be too hopeful but what if that was Aomine remembering something. That would explain the expression he was making and his sudden actions. Kagami let out a sigh and proceeded to take his clothes off and reached for the knob of the shower.

* * *

Aomine had been lying in his bed since Kagami left for his third day of work. He didn't have much energy to do anything but just lie there, but honestly it was getting a little boring. Who knew with Kagami gone there was nothing interesting to do? He let out a sigh as he rolled over on his side and recalled the strange event that happened yesterday. He wasn't sure why the smell of smoke on Kagami made him feel so strangely, but it bothered him the entire night.

He felt a sense of déjà vu when he noticed the smell of smoke on Kagami and before he knew it he was sniffing him like some sort of animal. He also felt a tinge of worry but he wasn't so sure why, maybe it was his memory slowly coming back to him? If so, why was the smell of smoke on Kagami so incredibly nostalgic?

He lifted himself off the bed and headed towards the kitchen to eat the last of the curry that was left over. He sat down to watch some television afterwards, but that was boring, he played a few games but they ended up being really boring as well. He didn't necessarily feel like heading down to the court to play basketball all by himself, maybe he could call Kuroko up as Kagami wrote down his number for him just in case, but he didn't really feel like doing that either. He groaned and got up from the couch and started wandering around the house but again, nothing too exciting.

He returned to his room and sat down on the bed and thumbed through the magazines he bought the other day. One was a swimsuit magazine that had caught his eye because the girl on the cover had huge boobs. He was feeling a little pent-up considering he didn't really want to take care of himself while Kagami was in the house, so now that he was gone for work this might be a good chance.

Beautiful models decorated the pages of the magazine in flirty poses. They were hot but it was just a swimsuit magazine and Aomine wanted something, well… a little more dirty. Like a light bulb had gone off in his head, he got up to check underneath the mattress. If his current self was anything like his old self, that's where he would keep all of his dirty magazines. But it came as a disappointment when there wasn't a single thing underneath. He checked under the bed, in the closet, and emptied out the drawers but nothing was to be found.

"What the hell? This can't be right…" he grumbled after exhausting all of his options. There would be no way he wouldn't own at least _one_ porn magazine!

He huffed and scratched his head, thinking of any other options. He could go and find a store that sold them but Kagami would wonder what he had spent so much money on.

"Aha!" Aomine got an idea and walked out of the room.

Standing in front of Kagami's bedroom door, he opened it up slowly as if someone would catch him sneaking in. He was never really interested in seeing what Kagami's bedroom looked like, but maybe Kagami had some, or even worse, maybe Kagami _took_ all of his porn out of his room. The bastard…

Aomine glanced around the room realizing right away that it was much bigger and seemed to be more lived in than his own. It seemed kind of unfair that Kagami's room would be bigger when they shared the house… in fact, why were there only two bedrooms with one being much smaller? Aomine figured he could ask later and headed over to the bed that was also bigger than his. Why would Kagami need such a big bed as well?

Aomine lifted up the mattress to find nothing.

"Maybe he's more of an underwear drawer kind of guy…" Aomine mumbled to himself as he went over to the dresser, being careful to not move the clothes around too much – especially since he wasn't really keen on going through another man's underwear.

But still there was nothing to be found. Aomine gave an annoyed huff – what kind of guy doesn't have any kind of wank material? He went to check the closet next but then figured that maybe under the bed he'd find something.

Approaching the bed, he got on his hands and knees and peeked underneath.

"Here we go!" he reached for something that looked like some kind of book and dragged it out from under the bed. "…Huh?"

Aomine's face twisted in confusion as he looked at the cover that clearly was not anything pornographic. It simply said 'Photo Album' in gold writing. The album was quite thick.

Curiosity getting the best of him, he sat down on Kagami's bed and opened it up to the first page. It was a big picture of him and Kagami with their arms around each other's shoulders, both of them wearing a huge grin. He turned the page to see more picture of the two of them; some with just him and some with just Aomine. They all seemed to be at the same location which looked like a beach.

"Is this just a photo album of us? This is so embarrassing," Aomine's cheeks slightly flushed. What kind of friends have a huge photo album of each other besides thirteen-year old girls?

He turned another page to see more pictures of this beach trip. One of them was a picture of Kagami wearing one of those shirts with the body of a woman in a bikini as he made a goofy grin. Aomine laughed at how ridiculous he looked, thinking boobs definitely did not look good on Kagami.

He flipped through a few other pages and saw seasons change with Kuroko and Momoi in a few of them. Aomine unconsciously smiled as he saw a picture of the four of them together. Not only had Kuroko matured, but Momoi as well. He felt a sense of something like a proud big brother when he saw her smile.

He turned another page and saw a picture that made him scrunch his eyebrows in curiosity. It seemed to be the same day the other pictures with Momoi and Kuroko were taken but it was just him and Kagami standing at a peer with the sun starting to set. They were standing side-by-side, very close to each other, with what seemed like Kagami leaning against Aomine. Their backs were to the camera so maybe one of their friends had taken the picture. It seemed like a very private moment, but Aomine felt strange looking at the picture… He and Kagami were very close, closer than two friends usually were.

Aomine chose to shake off the feeling and turned another page. There was a picture of Kagami smiling with Aomine wrapping his arms around his waist. Right next to it was an almost identical picture but in this one… the two were kissing.

Aomine swore he felt his heart stop and couldn't take his eyes off of the picture. His mind went blank and his body felt numb. Was that really him in the picture? Who else could it be? He could feel his heart pounding as his palms started to sweat, why would he be kissing Kagami? Maybe they were drunk or something and Kuroko or Momoi had snapped a picture of them behaving strangely.

Trying to deny what he saw, he flipped quickly through another few pages until he stopped to see a few more pictures of them embracing, holding hands, smiling together, another of them kissing. Aomine slammed the book closed and slapped his hands to his face. No, those weren't real, were they? Why were there so many pictures of him and Kagami like that, he had a girlfriend… Right?

He didn't know what to think, he didn't even know whether he should be angry or upset or… just anything. He felt slightly betrayed, confused, and his head hurt at the mix of emotions that were assaulting his mind. He even opened the book back up to confirm what he really saw. What did all of this mean?

* * *

Kagami got off early in order to go to the store to buy more ingredients for Aomine's lunches for the next few days. He figured he'd get him more of his favorite foods, hoping if he kept making them it'd make him remember something.

Kagami arrived home with groceries in hand, "I'm home!" he called out but received no response.

Figuring that Aomine was taking a nap as his shoes were still by the door, Kagami went to put the groceries away. Kagami went to go check on him in his room, he walked by his own bedroom and noticed the door open – he could've sworn he closed it that morning…

"Aomine?" Kagami approached Aomine's room and peaked inside. "…What are you doing?"

Kagami saw Aomine putting clothes into a bag.

"Don't talk to me…" he said in a low and serious voice.

Kagami was a bit taken aback at the hint of anger in Aomine's voice.

"What's wrong? And why are you putting your clothes in a bag?" Kagami's voice was quiet.

"Leave me alone. I'm leaving," Aomine finished putting things in his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Kagami went to grab Aomine by the arm but avoided it.

"Don't touch me!" Aomine raised his voice and walked past Kagami.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Kagami turned and grabbed Aomine by the shoulder.

"Let go!" Aomine shouted and shook Kagami's hand off. "Why don't you tell me the truth, huh?" He sent a glare towards Kagami.

"What are you talking about?" Kagami said in an exasperated voice

"I don't have a girlfriend, do I?" Aomine face was hardened with a serious expression.

Kagami's words were caught in his throat and felt his stomach drop a bit, how did he figure that out?

Seeing that trying to keep up this farce was futile, Kagami's eyes fell, "…No, you don't," he said quietly.

But this couldn't be the only thing to make Aomine this angry… he remembered how the door to his bedroom was open. Oh shit… it couldn't have been…?

"…I saw that book that you hid under the bed," Aomine lowered his voice.

Kagami's eyes widened. He felt so stupid. Why hadn't he locked the door? Why hadn't he hid the pictures better?

"Aomine…" Kagami tried putting his hand out but Aomine walked off.

"I'm leaving; I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Please, let's just talk!" Kagami followed after him, desperate to try and explain himself.

"What do you want to talk about? How you turned me into some homo? What the fuck was all of that? What did you do to me? And we even live together? That's so disgusting!" Aomine shouted in anger.

Kagami stood in shock at Aomine's outburst. He was left speechless; he didn't know what to say. Aomine reached for the front door and jerked it open.

"Don't go…" Kagami said weakly.

"Don't you dare try to get me to stay," Aomine spat, "And don't follow me or I swear I will hit you!"

Kagami didn't say a word as he watched Aomine storm off. He knew he should've chased after him despite the threat but he couldn't even find the strength to keep himself standing, let alone run. He wasn't sure how long he just stood there long after Aomine left. He returned back inside and silently sat down on the couch, realizing that tears were falling down his face.

He had messed everything up. Things may have been better off if he had just told Aomine the truth right away. He had finally gotten Aomine's trust and in a moment it was shattered. Kagami cupped his hands in his face in an attempt to stop his tears but it didn't work. Not only did Aomine now hate him, but finding out that they were in a relationship did absolutely nothing to help his memory.

He didn't want to be alone right now, but most of all he just wanted Aomine back. He wasn't sure if it was best to just let him vent out his anger or go out and look for him. Kagami reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and pressing a number on speed-dial.

"Hello?"

"…Kuroko, can you come over please?" Kagami tried to prevent his voice from cracking.

"Kagami-kun, what's wrong?" Kuroko's voice was tinged with worry.

"Daiki left the house… he found out everything…"

"… I'll be there as soon as I can." 


	6. Chapter 6

Aomine gave an umpteenth huff in frustration as he made his way to god-knows-where in the chill of the late evening. He knew he overreacted and may have said some things he didn't necessarily mean, but once he saw Kagami he couldn't help it – his overflow of emotions had bubbled over and the one that decided to show itself was his anger. He cursed to himself for losing his cool and it honestly sent a little pain through his chest to see Kagami's face like that.

But it was Kagami's fault – he had been lying to him this whole time… But would it really have been better if Kagami told him from the start that the two had this kind of relationship? Aomine knew that definitely wouldn't have ended well, but he still felt hurt by the betrayal. He had honestly started to feel like Kagami was a good friend since waking up in the hospital bed and realized how it was plausible that they had become so close. He couldn't deny that he enjoyed the time he spent getting to know his red-headed rival.

His feelings were all jumbled when he saw those pictures of the two; he still couldn't quite put a finger on what he felt. He didn't necessarily feel very angry when he saw it; shock was a more accurate word. He didn't know what to feel and ended up getting angry over the situation, unnecessarily insulting Kagami with words that he even knew were crossing the line, and storming out of the house.

And now he was stuck with no place to go. The gap in his memory was nine years long so he doubted that any address or phone number he knew was still the same. His parents probably lived in the same house but how weird would it be to say that he ran away from his own house because he found out he was actually living with a guy he didn't know he was dating – not only that, he didn't even know if his parents _knew_ he was dating a man. He cursed himself for not thinking of taking Kuroko's number with him or at least memorizing it.

Before he knew it, his feet had carried him to the local public basketball court; probably because that was the only place he really knew how to get to without being surrounded by a bunch of people. As if by chance, there was an abandoned basketball sitting in the far corner of the court. Aomine walked past the chain-link fence, setting his bag down on a bench, and walking over to grab the ball. There was hardly anyone around the area which was nice because he really didn't feel like dealing with people right now. He hoped letting off some steam would help him calm down and maybe he could find a park or a manga café to spend the night at.

He played by himself for a time, shooting basket after basket and almost becoming bored by the fact that he was alone. He was about to get ready to get going until he heard a familiar voice that seemed like one he hadn't heard in a long time.

"Dai-chan…?"

Aomine turned his head to look past the other side of the chain-link fence to see a tall, pretty woman in a dress suit with pink hair past her shoulders, holding a bag of groceries.

"Satsuki…" Aomine's eyes widened a bit, shocked to see his childhood friend grown-up. He had seen her earlier that day in the photo album but it was totally different seeing her right now in front of him.

"What are you doing? Where's Kagamin?" She walked past the fence onto the court looking from side to side for any sign of the other man.

Aomine scrunched his eyebrows a bit and turned his head away, "I'm not staying with him anymore."

"Huh!? But he's your… friend!" Momoi made an awkward pause as she recalled Kagami's phone call the other day and how he explained to her that Aomine was under the pretense that the two were just friends.

"Now you're lying to me too?" He huffed and threw the ball cleanly into the basket.

"…Did he tell you?" She asked quietly.

"More like I happened to find out," Aomine said in an almost annoyed tone.

Momoi remained silent for a moment, assessing the situation, although she wasn't entirely sure what happened. From what she gathered, Aomine found out that the two were dating and he was not happy about it, so he basically ran away from home.

"How about you come stay with me for a while then? I know you probably don't have anywhere else to go," she attempted a kind smile towards her childhood friend.

Aomine breathed out a deep sigh, "That would be nice," he focused his gaze on Momoi again, relieved that she so happened to pass by.

"Alright, come on. You can explain the situation to me when we get to the house" she motioned for Aomine to follow her.

* * *

Kagami pulled his door open with a hard yank as soon as he heard a knock.

"Kuroko…" he said in a quiet voice as he saw the big, light-blue eyes of his friend.

Kuroko walked into the house, noticing the red puffiness in Kagami's eyes, indicating that he was crying. Kagami wasn't the kind of man to think crying was something considered 'weak' but he rarely cried until he looked as distressed as he did now.

The two quietly walked into the living room and the first one to speak up was Kuroko.

"How did he find out?" He asked in a calm voice.

"He found a photo album I hid under my bed… I knew I should've hid everything better or locked my door when I went out of the house or something. But I guess the way things were going well between the two of us I got a little too comfortable," Kagami's gaze was pointed downwards towards the hands in his lap.

Kuroko crossed his arms and let out a short sigh, "… And he didn't remember anything?"

"No…" Kagami's voice cracked.

"I would think a shock like that might've jolted something in his memory…" Kuroko mumbled to himself. "But I think something like this was bound to happen, Kagami-kun. I know you just wanted to keep your relationship with this Aomine from the past on as best terms as possible but this may put a bump in the road to his recovery."

"I know!" Kagami buried his hands in his face with a flustered groan.

Kuroko scooted over on the couch and put a hand on Kagami's back, rubbing small circles, "I'm not trying to make you feel worse about it. I can't imagine how hard this whole situation has been."

Kagami didn't reply but the tension in his back loosened a bit.

"Aomine-kun, despite how he acted in high school, has always been a kind person. Even if it was buried into the depths of his heart," Kuroko continued.

"He sounded so angry, though. He said that our relationship was disgusting…" Kagami mumbled from behind his hands.

"I'm sure he didn't really mean that and that was just due to his shock," Kuroko reassured.

Kagami slowly sat up, dropping his hands from his face, "What do I do? He ran out of the house and I didn't chase after him. He doesn't have a phone on him and he doesn't know where to go – what if something bad happens to him?"

"He will be fine; he just needs to calm himself down. We can go look for him in a bit, I'm almost positive with not knowing where else to go he'll head to the basketball court," Kuroko's hand gripped Kagami's shoulder.

"Yeah… you're right, he probably will," Kagami tried to give a smile.

* * *

"So, can you tell me about what happened?" Momoi set a cup of coffee in front of Aomine and took a chair across the table from him with a cup of her own.

"Not much to say… I found some pictures of us together…" Aomine mumbled, staring down at the mug in front of him.

"Of you and Kagamin?" She asked in a soft voice.

Aomine didn't respond right away and kept his gaze down, "How long have we been like that?"

"Hmm…" Momoi took a moment to think, "I think about… six years? At least officially."

"Six!? We've been together that long?" Aomine looked surprised as he lifted his head to look directly at Momoi.

"Yes, I remember we were around nineteen when I found out the two of you were together… It was quite a shock; I would've never thought the two of you had become that close…" Momoi heard Aomine make a short huff of breath. She noticed his eyebrow scrunched in frustration, "So you don't remember anything?"

"No, you'd think a remember something like that," Aomine finally lifted the cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip, grimacing a bit at the bitterness.

"Are you really mad at Kagamin right now?"

Aomine raised an eyebrow at the question directed towards him. "What are you talking about? I'm pissed, I walked out on him."

"You don't really look angry despite your words," Momoi attempted a kind smile but got a scowl in return.

"Like hell, why wouldn't I be angry after finding out I'm in that kind of relationship with… him?" Aomine took another sip of his coffee and set the mug down with a loud thunk.

"Well, I'm sure you're shocked but you still don't seem angry. Especially considering how hot-blooded you were when you were sixteen; you'd get mad over the littlest things," she let out a light chuckle.

"Shut up, I do not…" Aomine grumbled, crossing his arms.

"But really, Dai-chan, how are you actually feeling right now?"

Aomine always knew that Momoi was really good at analyzing his feelings. Studying people was her specialty after all. He looked in her direction, her giving a look as if to say 'I'm waiting'. He gave a sigh and began to speak.

"It's more like… I'm angry that I'm not that angry." Momoi gave a confused look and Aomine continued to explain. "I feel like I should be so pissed at him; not only did he keep it a secret but apparently I'm dating him. I should be furious to find out that I ended up dating some guy, and it's Kagami of all people. But I'm really… not that angry about it. Which doesn't make any sense…" Aomine's face hardened in frustration over his conflicting feelings.

"Maybe it's because deep down you know have some feelings for him?" Momoi suggested.

"Don't be disgusting…" Aomine retorted, his scowl not leaving his face.

"Well, why else would you feel that way?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because… I actually started to really get along with him these past few days," Aomine's hands fidgeted with the cup in his hands. "I really started to see how we ended up being friends… Well now I know we're apparently a lot more than just friends…"

"So, you admit you like Kagamin. If only a little; as a friend," Momoi egged on a little to try and get Aomine to open up a bit more.

Aomine's mouth contorted a bit as he tried to find the words to say, "I-I guess you could say that…" he mumbled. "But it was such a strange feeling seeing pictures of us being… well, like a couple. I mean, I looked so happy in those pictures and so did he… How did we end up that way?" His eyes fell back onto the coffee mug in his hands.

"I guess that's something that can't be easily explained. Although, I'm surprised they didn't bring back any memories…" Momoi said quietly, as if to herself.

But Aomine heard her, the room was so silent. He repeated the words a few times in his head, applying them to the situation. Then he remembered the day he admitted to Kagami that he felt as if the girl he believed to be dating was really the one. That he was confident that he was in love with her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He clapped a hand to his mouth as he made the realization and the connection to then and now – was the person he was actually talking about Kagami?

"Are you alright?" Momoi noticed Aomine's sudden strange behavior.

"It's nothing…" he said in a muffled voice with his hand still covering his mouth.

That feeling was really the only thing that he would consider a memory he had recovered since the accident, so he had spent the last few day being confident that it was his genuine feelings. Aomine was beside himself.

"I want to take a shower…" he got up from his chair and started walking out of the kitchen.

"O-Okay but let me show you the way before you just get up and leave," Momoi chased after him.

* * *

Kagami made a small snack for Kuroko and him (he hadn't had dinner yet due to the situation so he was starving). This allowed Kagami to settle his nerves a bit by having his friend by his side and chat for a moment about what to do next. As the two were finishing up their food and had decided to head out and look for Aomine, Kagami's phone rang. He quickly picked it up off the table to check the text message he had gotten:

'Dai-chan is over at my house, found him the court. He's spending the night w/ me. Call u in the morning.'

Kagami felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and let out a sigh of relief.

"Daiki is fine, he's with Momoi. She found him by the court and he's spending the night with her," Kagami told Kuroko.

"Oh, that's great then," Kuroko gave a reassuring smile.

'Thank u so much, sorry for all of the trouble.'

Kagami sent a reply text and sank back into the couch. He realized he was absolutely exhausted after he finally calmed down from the ordeal.

"Looks like you're ready to fall asleep," Kuroko commented after noticing Kagami visibly relaxing.

"Yeah, now that I know he's fine I might be able to get some sleep tonight. I'm glad I don't have work tomorrow." Kagami turned his head in Kuroko's direction, "Thank you for coming over, really, I probably would've been a mess if you hadn't."

"It's no problem, you know that," Kuroko patted Kagami's shoulder lightly.

"You can spend the night if you don't feel like heading back home," Kagami sat up straight.

"I might take you up on that. Need me to sleep in the bed with you?" Kuroko asked with a straight face.

"Shut up, I'm not a little kid," Kagami grumbled, heading towards the kitchen. Kuroko laughed to himself.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Kagamin. Aomine absolutely refuses to go back despite how much I keep telling him he should," Momoi who sounded like she had given up on her stubborn friend was on the other line of the phone.

"I shouldn't be surprised…" Kagami sighed, standing slightly outside of the kitchen. Kuroko was at the dining table eating breakfast with an amusing bed-head he always had in the morning.

"I don't mind letting him stay but I think the person he needs to be with right now is you," Momoi said with a thoughtful tone.

"I really want him to come back to at least talk things through… maybe we could meet up outside? Like at a restaurant?"

Momoi didn't respond right away as Kagami heard her announce the suggestion, obviously to someone else in the room with her. He heard a familiar voice yell 'No way' back and Momoi sigh.

"Sorry, Aomine is still being a big brat," Momoi emphasized the word 'brat' loud enough for Aomine to hear, earning a 'shut up' in response. Kagami found it amusing despite the situation.

"Ask him if it's alright to meet up if you and Kuroko tag along," Kagami suggested. He could hear Momoi on the other line talk to Aomine once again. It took a while for him to respond but Kagami could barely hear the answer.

"He said as long as we come and as long as food is involved," Momoi huffed. She was annoyed that she had somehow ended up being the middle-man in their conversation.

"Alright, let's meet up for dinner at… Maji Burger, I guess," Kagami shrugged.

"Sounds great."

Kagami said his goodbyes with Momoi , hung up the phone, and asked Kuroko for one more favor.

* * *

Over the phone, it seemed like Aomine may have not been so angry anymore, and maybe Kuroko was right: he just needed to cool his jets. Kagami was hoping that this was all going to work out better than he initially thought and become pretty optimistic as he got ready to leave the house for dinner.

But right now, Aomine was sitting across from him in a fast food restaurant, avoiding Kagami's eye contact, and emitting a menacing aura that was just as strong as the day before. Maybe Aomine really had calmed down, but just the mere presence of Kagami had reignited his sour mood. Fantastic.

Momoi was sitting next to Aomine, looking a bit uneasy as if his bad mood was stifling her. Kuroko just sipped at his vanilla shake like nothing particularly interesting was going on. On top of everything, this silence and situation was just getting terribly awkward and uncomfortable.

Deciding he had enough of the silence, Kagami was the first to speak up, "Dai-Aomine…"

"Just use my first name and stop correcting yourself," Aomine interrupted.

"…Daiki," Kagami continued, "I really just want you to hear me out and let me explain."

Aomine just gave a grunt in response and crossed his arms.

"I didn't tell you about us because I knew you'd have a negative reaction to it… Like how you are right now," Aomine shot a glare at him and went back to avoiding Kagami's eyes. "But I realized lying to you might've made the whole situation worse and I'm sorry…" Kagami turned his hands in his lap as he felt his palms getting a bit sweaty.

"Why'd you lie to me about the girlfriend thing?" Aomine asked in a gruff voice.

"Well, you had already found out you were going out with someone from the doctor so I had to come up with something…"

"And you two went along with it?" Aomine looked at Momoi and then Kuroko who were still silent.

"Yes…"

"I only did what Kagami-kun thought was best."

Aomine let out an aggravated sigh, "She seemed like the silver-lining in this whole shitty situation and she wasn't even real…" Aomine grumbled, knowing that wasn't necessarily all false. Apparently his silver-lining was real, but it was just a full-grown man instead.

"I know that was probably crossing the line and I feel like shit, I really do," Kagami ran a hand through his hair with a pained look on his face. Aomine was thankful that Kagami hadn't seemed to have realized the discovery Aomine had made.

Kagami set his elbows on the table in front of him, placing his face in his hands with an exacerbated sigh, "I just want you to come back home…"

Aomine realized that Kagami wasn't really talking about him; he was talking about his twenty-five year old self. All the times Kagami looked so sad made so much sense now. Knowing that Kagami felt this way made Aomine feel… agitated. It was frustrating that he was sitting right here yet he felt like he was the wrong person. This other Aomine who had the same name and same life was some separate person. Aomine found himself somewhat hating his other self.

Aomine looked up to see Kuroko gently patting Kagami on the back. Momoi reached over and put a hand on Aomine's arm.

"I know you're still mad at him, and I don't blame you, but please give Kagamin another chance? I can tell that deep down you care for him," Momoi gave his arm a light squeeze and smiled.

"I'll think about it," Aomine spoke up. Kagami looked up from his hands. "I… I don't hate you or anything," he mumbled. "But I can't just forgive you so easily. I still can't get over the fact that apparently we're… dating…" Aomine said the last bit under his breath. "But I guess I sorta got used to living with you…"

Kagami's face softened a bit, slightly surprised.

"I'll think about coming back so I'm sleeping at Satsuki's again tonight."

"That sounds fair," Kagami attempted a weak smile.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Aomine slid out of the booth and got up.

"But what about food?" Momoi got up after him, giving a small wave to Kagami and Kuroko.

"Let's just get take-out."

Kagami looked over at Kuroko who seemed to have finished his vanilla shake by now, "Thanks… Again."

"You're welcome. You owe me another vanilla shake, though," Kuroko said flatly.

"Yeah I know," Kagami gave a light chuckle and got up to order another shake… And twenty burgers.


	7. Chapter 7

Aomine's hand inched its way up Kagami's shirt, his lips pressed against the back of the red-head's neck. Aomine's hand stroked a chiseled, muscular chest and Kagami groaned.

"You aren't tired?" he mumbled against his pillow.

"No way, not when I'm like this," Aomine said in a low voice against Kagami's ear.

Kagami soon felt something hard up against his back, Aomine felt him twitch slightly.

"Aren't you _always_ like that?" Kagami commented, but made no attempts at avoiding Aomine's hands caressing up and down his body.

"Very funny," one of Aomine's hands traveled down to the hem of Kagami's pants. "Come on, we haven't done it in a while."

"Of course you consider only few days 'a while'," Kagami hmphed but turned around onto his side. "You're gonna have to get me in the mood first," a mischievous smile spread across his face.

Aomine gave a light chuckle, "That'll be no problem."

Kagami reached out and put his hand around Aomine's waist and pushed himself closer so that their bodies were against each other.

"Daiki…" he said in a much different tone, an almost seductive whisper.

Aomine felt himself get even more excited, he went in to crash their lips together in a passionate kiss.

Thump.

"Ow… shit…"

Aomine felt a pain in his side and noticed he was apparently on the floor. He reached over to the side and felt the edge of the couch.

"Dammit, I actually fell off…" he grabbed the seat of the couch and situated himself back on it.

Sitting back down, he noticed a little predicament going on with his lower half.

"What the…" It took him a second until the memories of the dream came rushing back to him. He cupped a hand to his mouth as he made the realization. "Why the fuck would I dream about that?"

Aomine felt his face burn as he remembered his dream vividly. "Was that… a memory?" He whispered to himself. That wasn't particularly his preferred thing to have come back to him in his dreams.

"Shit, I actually got hard too. That's so messed up…" he rubbed his face with his hands and slowly stood up. "I'll go take a shower… a cold one."

* * *

"Dai-chan, what were you up so early taking a shower for?" Momoi asked as she set down a small plate of food in front of him for breakfast.

"Just felt like it…" he mumbled and immediately started shoveling food into his mouth. "Damn, your cooking still sucks," he made a face as he forced some over-done eggs down his throat.

"I doubt you could do much better!" Momoi scolded and walked over to the front door and grabbed her purse hanging from a hook next to it. "If you would just go back with Kagamin, like you should, I'm sure you'd like the cooking much better," she said, slipping on her shoes.

"Jeeze, if you wanted me out of the house that badly you should've just said so," Aomine grumbled and took a bite of half-burnt toast.

"Dai-chan, I'm pretty sure you're the one that doesn't want to be here any longer," she straightened herself up and patted her hair in place. "Anyway, I have to get to work or else I'll be late. I'll have a talk with coach so I can come home early."

"I can't believe you're actually the assistant coach at Touou," Aomine looked over at Momoi as she stood by the door.

"What can I say? The place felt like home," she gave a meek smile, "And I'll probably be replacing Coach Harasawa when he retires; although I think he'll coach until he's on his deathbed." Momoi looked down at her phone, "Ah, I really have to go. Don't make any trouble! Bye!" She gave a quick wave and was out the door.

Aomine gave a half-wave and waited until she was out the door before standing up with his plate of food and shoveling it into the garbage.

"I need some real food…" he mumbled to himself, knowing that he was definitely missing Kagami's cooking but didn't want to admit it to himself.

He settled on getting dressed and heading down to the convenience store as Momoi had left him some spending money for the day. He didn't really know what else to do besides that and headed over to the court to shoot some hoops. He hoped he wouldn't run into Kagami there but remembered that he was probably at work so of course that wouldn't be an issue. He had to get Kagami off of his mind, but after that dream last night that was a difficult task. Why would he dream about something like _that_ , even if it was something that his present self had actually done? It didn't really settle with him well that he really had to fight the urge to take care of his little problem too. If he was going to regain his memories via a series of wet dreams he'd prefer to have amnesia forever.

Playing basketball let off a little steam but still didn't quell the uneasiness in Aomine's gut. Not only that, but he was tired as the rest of his sleep last night was mostly restless. He took the rest of the day to get a nap in and luckily had no dreams, at least one he would remember.

* * *

"So, have you made a decision as to when you're going back to Kagamin's place?" Momoi asked from the other side of the couch as the two ate some microwave dinners (thank goodness).

"You really want me out of here, don't you?" Aomine growled and shoveled food into his mouth.

"That's not it and you know it," Momoi narrowed her eyes in Aomine's direction, "I know you miss being there and that's honestly what's best for you. You two made up, right? And trust me, Kagamin isn't like you – he won't jump you in your sleep or anything."

"Are you implying that I'd jump someone in their sleep?" Aomine shot a glare at Momoi.

"That's exactly what I'm implying," she hmphed and Aomine clicked his tongue and muttered something under his breath.

Momoi let out a short sigh and set her food down on the coffee table. "Honestly, Dai-chan, I don't mind you staying as long as you'd like. In fact, I really like that you're here," Momoi gave a faint yet warm smile.

"That's a lie," Aomine retorted.

Momoi shook her head, "No, it's true. Why wouldn't I enjoy having my best friend over?"

Aomine stopped eating his food and turned his head to face Momoi. She still had a kind smile on her face, she looked like such an adult and he still wasn't quite used to it.

"Dai-chan, no matter what you'll always be my best friend. When you started getting along with Kagamin I have to admit; I got a bit jealous," she looked down at her hands fidgeting in her lap. "But once I saw you laughing and smiling and having fun with basketball again I was so happy – and when I realized it was all because of Kagamin I was so thankful to him for that. When you came to me and told me that you were together with Kagamin I'd never seen you happier." Momoi's eyes watered a bit as her smile remained on her face.

Aomine's face dropped and he could feel a pang in his chest.

"I know it's strange to you now and I know you don't remember, but Kagamin is what makes you happy. Don't you feel like something is missing?"

Aomine looked down in thought; Momoi was right even if he didn't want to admit it. It really did feel like there was a big chunk missing that wasn't necessarily his memory. Being away from Kagami honestly sucked.

"I…" Aomine's voice croaked and he clenched his fist, "I still don't know how I feel, but…" he paused, "I know I should probably go back to his house… I mean our house… if I ever want my memories to return."

Momoi let out a relieved chuckle and wiped at her eyes.

"H-Hey, Satsuki, don't cry… You know I hate to see you cry…" Aomine was always weak to her tears, especially when it was his fault. And he knew he had his fair share of doing that in high school despite how uncaring he came off as at the time.

"I'm not crying, idiot," she reached out her hand to grasp his, "I'm just happy. You can take your time going back but I'm just glad you've made your decision. Honestly, I hope your memories come back soon, but it's been really nostalgic talking to the sixteen-year old Dai-chan these last few days."

Aomine gave a half smile, "You haven't changed a bit though. Except now you look old."

Momoi smacked him on his shoulder, "Don't get cocky or I might change my mind about letting you stay." Aomine laughed and she stood up to throw their trash away.

"Hey, Satsuki?" Aomine called back behind him.

"What is it?"

"I'll go back tomorrow. No use putting it off."

Momoi smiled once again, "Alright."

* * *

Kagami was once again nervous about Aomine coming back home. Momoi had called him up the previous night to let him know that Aomine decided to come back to their house the next day. Kagami was relieved and glad but also felt like he had to start whatever progress they had with their relationship all over again. He occupied himself with cooking dinner; other than basketball that was the only thing that could calm his nerves, and he was hoping to get Aomine back into his good graces with food.

A knock on the door gave him a surprise but he quickly gathered himself mentally and walked over to the front entrance. He took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Hello, Kagamin! Delivery!" Momoi was standing at the doorway, a cheery smile on her face and an aloof Aomine in tow.

"Yo…" Aomine avoided eye contact and scratched the back of his neck.

"Hey," Kagami tried not to sound nervous as he greeted Aomine who let himself in.

"Smells good…" he commented. The instant the smell of Kagami's food hit his nose he realized how much he missed it and the smell was unusually comforting.

"Oh, yeah, I'm almost done making dinner. You want to join us, Momoi? I made plenty," Kagami felt a little pressure lift off of his shoulders when his plan with the food seemed to be working.

"Ah, I wish but I can't. Practice starts soon and I was just dropping off Dai-chan before I headed over there," Momoi glanced at the phone in her hand.

"Well at least take some with you? You could share it with the coach or something," before Momoi had anything to say back Kagami was off to the kitchen to grab Momoi some food.

"He's kind of a softy despite how menacing he can look," Momoi giggled a bit.

"He might as well be someone's housewife," Aomine got done kicking off his shoes.

"I think he already is," Momoi commented. Aomine just grunted in response.

"Alright, here you go. Make sure it doesn't spill," Kagami ran back to the entrance and handed a bag of food to Momoi.

"Jeeze, Kagamin you didn't have to give me so much. But thank you anyway."

"It's the least I could do for you helping us with our… situation," Kagami set his hands on his hips and glanced towards Aomine.

"It was actually nice having Dai-chan over, believe it or not," Momoi teased. "Anyway I have to get going. Bye you two!"

And with a wave and the closing of a door Aomine and Kagami were alone together again. Before the silence got too awkward Aomine made his way and shuffled towards the kitchen.

"I'm starving, Satsuki's cooking still sucks. I dunno how she can eat her own food."

Kagami held back a laugh; so far things seemed to be going alright. "Well I made plenty of food so help yourself."

Aomine walked over to a pot and lifted the lid, "You made a stew," he nearly drooled at the smell that came wafting up from the pot.

"Yeah, I was thinking about making curry but you had that last week," Kagami came up next to him and handed him a bowl.

"Curry would've been fine… but this looks good," Aomine took the bowl and ladled a generous amount into it.

The two sat down to eat in relative silence. It might've been more awkward but Aomine seemed to be scarfing down several helpings as if he didn't get anything to eat while staying at Momoi's house. Of course Kagami did the same but that's just because… he's Kagami.

"I'm glad you decided to come back, I'm still really sorry about everything," Kagami brought up the topic although it still might be somewhat sensitive. But he really wanted to assure Aomine that he had only the best intentions.

"I'm not mad about it anymore," Aomine mumbled, but there was clearly still something wrong.

"It was stupid of me to make up stories but I thought you'd get angry or upset if I told you our real relationship off the bat," Kagami pushed the stew around in his bowl.

"You're probably right. I might've punched you or something," Aomine said bluntly. "But after seeing those pictures there's really no denying it."

Kagami grumbled in frustration, "I should've told you before you found those pictures though. That was stupid of me. I'm sorry you had to find out that way…"

Aomine didn't respond right away and remained silent for a moment. "I guess I'm kind of sorry too. I mean, I think I had the right to be angry but I didn't mean some of the things I said. I don't really think you're disgusting…" Aomine had been avoiding making eye contact with Kagami the whole time but glanced up for a moment.

Kagami smiled slightly, "I knew you didn't really mean that…"

"Besides, if you're disgusting that would mean I'm disgusting too…" Aomine rested his head on his hand and paused a bit. "Um…"

"What is it?" Aomine seemed to be fidgeting a bit in his seat.

"We don't… you know… have to kiss and stuff right now… right?" He gave a nervous look towards Kagami who burst out laughing. "H-Hey, what's so funny!"

Kagami tried to stifle has laughter a bit to get out a response, "No! What makes you think that?"

"I don't know! We're a couple, right? Couples do those sorts of things, don't they?" Aomine's ears turned a bit red and Kagami couldn't help but think that his flustered face was kind of cute.

After settling down a bit and Aomine getting more flustered, Kagami had better control of his voice, "We are a couple but it's not like I'm going to jump you right off the bat with you having amnesia and everything, even if you know about our relationship now.

Aomine grumbled to himself when he remembered what Momoi said was right. "Well, good cuz I don't think I'd be ready to do that kind of stuff yet."

Kagami took a little bit of solace with the word 'yet'. He got up to take their bowls to the sink, "Right now I'm fine with us just being friends. Until your memory comes back I won't do anything to you."

Hearing that, Aomine should've felt immense relief. That was the entire reason he was so nervous about going back – having the knowledge that they were actually a couple and what that had in store for him. But for some reason, deep down, there was a burning sense of disappointment that Aomine couldn't understand why he was feeling. It was annoying.

"Good," Aomine responded, not sure what else to say.

That night when Aomine lay down to go to sleep in his room, he couldn't help but feel that the room felt lonely and unfamiliar and the bed felt empty.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ah, I'm sorry sir, but his memory still hasn't returned…" Kagami scratched the back of his neck as he sat on his bed with Aomine's cellphone up to his ear. He had made a call to Aomine's workplace about the situation when it happened, but apparently they were getting a little tired of waiting for their employee to come back to work.

"No… he's completely healed except for his memory. The doctors and I are trying but we can't quite figure out how to get his memory back except to wait. I'm sorry but if you could wait a little longer-" Kagami was interrupted mid-sentence by the grumbling boss on the other line.

He tried not to let out a sigh of frustration. He knew that Aomine being absent would impact the company but there was really nothing anyone could do about it.

"Just give us one more week? I'm sure his memory won't be gone for much longer," Kagami pleaded. There was a long silence until the boss, unwillingly, agreed to the conditions and hung up the phone. Kagami let out an exasperated groan as he threw the phone back into the nightstand drawer and fell back on his bed. It would be terrible if Aomine lost his job over this so he had to work fast – but he was at a loss as to what would help the memories return. Aomine had learned so much about his present-day self since the accident and the recovery progress still seemed to show no progress since day one.

Either way, Kagami was too tired to deal with this now, and soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"I've got the day off tomorrow. Want to go do something?" Kagami asked as he set down two plates of food.

"You aren't asking me out on a date, are you?" Aomine raised an eyebrow.

Kagami narrowed his eyes with a huff, "No, idiot. I told you I'm fine with us just being 'friends' for now. It's just that we haven't gone out to do anything since you got back and I figured you're getting bored."

"That's true I guess…" Aomine grumbled through a mouth full of food.

"I was thinking we could go see a basketball game – they're having some college matches this week and we go once in a while to check them out."

"That so?" Aomine took a bit of time to think, "I guess that'd be alright. Got nothing better to do."

"Good, I'm glad," Kagami warmly smiled and Aomine glanced away as soon as he felt a weird fluttering in his stomach.

Over the past couple days since Aomine's return their relationship had swiftly mended back together. Although there was a new bit of added awkwardness, Kagami made it obvious that he wasn't going to push Aomine into doing anything he didn't want to. And if Aomine had to be honest, it was nice being on good terms with Kagami again.

"Anyway, after tomorrow I've got night shift for a few days so I'm probably going to be sleeping most of the day. Maybe you could hang out with Kuroko or Momoi – not saying I think you're going to be loud at home but it'll probably be boring for you."

"Alright, maybe I'll play some basketball with Kuroko… wait, does he still play?" Aomine asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, he joins us often. So does Tatsuya," Kagami said, getting up for seconds already.

"Tatsuya?" Aomine raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Himuro Tatsuya," Kagami lifted up the necklace around his neck, "Used to play on Yosen with Muraskibara; the guy who gave me this."

Aomine eyed the ring at the end of the chain. "Oh yeah, him. So _that's_ why you wear that necklace," he paused for a moment, "Wait, so you have a ring from another guy and I'm okay with that?"

Kagami stifled a laugh, "Himuro's basically my brother separated at birth; our relationship is kind of like yours and Momoi's. Are you jealous?"

Aomine furrowed his brow, "I'm not! It's just kind of strange that he'd give you a ring when we're supposedly d-dating…"

"Well, I did get this before I even knew who you were," Kagami resisted the smile that was attempting to spread across his face. Maybe Aomine really was actually starting to remember some of his present day feelings.

"O-Oh yeah…" Aomine mumbled.

"You don't have to worry, Tatsuya is taken so he's not a threat," Kagami smirked and dug into his second plate.

"I never said I was worried about anything!" Aomine hmphed and took a bite of his food as well.

Kagami couldn't help but finally let out a laugh which earned him a glare from two dark blue eyes. He knew he probably shouldn't be teasing so much but Aomine's reactions were too amusing.

The rest of dinner was pretty much lighthearted conversation which came as a relief to Kagami. He was glad that their relationship wasn't taking such a big blow from their previous falling out.

Kagami rubbed his stomach with a contented sigh and stood up to throw the dishes in the sink. Figuring he'd just bother with washing them later he settled down on the couch and turned the TV on to watch the news.

Aomine wasn't particularly interested in watching it and shuffled over beside Kagami, "Hey, can I borrow the computer?"

"Hn? Sure, the laptop's in my bedroom," Kagami continued to stare at the television.

Aomine turned and retrieved the laptop, went to his room, plopped on the bed, and started up the computer. He'd messed around on the suspiciously cleaned out laptop (he now knew why that was probably so) during the day a few times when he had nothing else to do. He was never really a computer person but it was interesting to see how much technology had changed in nine years. A lot of times he'd just check up on basketball news and, of course, the occasional dirty site (making sure to clean the history afterwards, obviously).

After checking a few scores and updates of some of his favorite teams Aomine got a little curious. He knew looking up some of those less-than-innocent sites when Kagami was home was probably not a good idea, but Aomine was now looking for a slightly different reason. He knew he should probably wait until another time to be looking this up, but he needed to quell his curiosity as soon as he could – he had to know exactly how it was done.

"I… I can't believe I'm doing this…" he said under his breath. "What the hell do I even search for to find this shit anyway?"

Aomine must've spent two whole minutes just staring at the search screen with his hands hovering over the keyboard. "Fuck…" he whispered through gritted teeth and proceeded to type in 'gay porn' while closing his eyes. He opened up one eye slowly, seeing all the sites listed and quickly clicked the first result.

"Shit, shit, shit," he continued to hiss under his breath. His heartbeat quickened as the page loaded.

Now, the last thing he expected was for the page to have a video on autoplay. He also didn't expect the laptop's volume to be cranked up to max volume. Neither did he expect the room to be filled with a man's moans, paired with the loud slapping together of skin. Unfortunately, all of these things that Aomine did not expect to happen, happened.

"Shit! Fuck!" Aomine yelled and slammed the laptop closed as fast as he could, his heart now feeling like it was going to burst out of his chest at any moment.

Not much later, he heard the impending sound of Kagami's footsteps and a knock on the door. "Are you alright?" Kagami actually sounded worried.

"I-I'm fine!" Aomine said in a nervous voice.

"It sounded like you hurt yourself or something," Kagami responded.

"No, no, I was just uh…" Aomine struggled for an excuse, "I was checking some scores and one of my teams lost so I got frustrated."

"Oh alright, that's a relief then. Sorry about your team," Kagami sounded a lot less worried and his footsteps faded away from the door.

Aomine let out a huge sigh of relief and patted himself on the back for thinking up that lie. Now there was just the issue of opening the laptop up that he hopefully didn't break after slamming it and looking at the damn webpage without being heard. He picked up the headphones on the desk in his room and plugged them in.

"I should've done this in the first place…" he grumbled to himself.

He took a deep breath and opened the laptop up again, quickly turning the volume down. The video seemed to have paused itself, though, saving Aomine the worry of watching the video right away. He gulped and stared at the paused video for a few moments before looking away. Yep – it was definitely gay porn. He took another breath and hovered the cursor over the play button and quickly clicked it. The previous moans and slapping sounds started playing again and Aomine stared at the screen with a tense face.

He was at least glad that he had not found himself on a foreign site and for the first time in his life, he was thankful for the Japanese law of censorship. It was surprisingly similar to the porn he was familiar with except, well, it was two guys. He really couldn't find himself to enjoy it, though. He didn't necessarily feel disgusted by it, but it just wasn't doing a thing for him.

"I don't get it…" he said and paused the video. How could he do something like that with another man? Male bodies weren't nearly as nice as a woman's – they weren't as soft and not nearly as curvaceous. Kagami in particular – his body was similar to his own, Aomine thought. It probably felt hard and sturdy. Kagami did seem to have a bit of a stockier build, as his chest was a bit bigger and he was slightly wider than Aomine.

 _'What would it even feel like to touch him?'_ Aomine thought to himself. He had occasionally seen Kagami coming out of the shower with nothing but a towel around his waist but never really stared for more than a moment. He tried to visualize what he could remember of his body, then tried to think of what it would feel like. A vision of his hand trailing across Kagami's broad chest came to him a lot more vividly than he would have imagined, like it was something he had done before. It would probably be firm but his skin would be soft, his pecs were pretty full and guys still had nipples so… maybe it wouldn't be much different.

A sigh escaped Aomine's lips before he knew that his eyes were closed and his hands were nearly down his pants where a growing heat was starting to accumulate.

"No no no no no…" He opened his eyes and shook his head of all thoughts. What the hell was he about to do?

Aomine resisted the urge to smack himself and quickly closed out of the browser (after clearing the history, of course) and turning off the computer. He got up to grab a change of clothes and headed out to the bathroom. He wasn't very fond of the frequency of cold showers lately.

* * *

Watching anything besides the pros play basketball wasn't really something Aomine was much a fan of, but found himself surprisingly enjoying himself at the game with Kagami. The players were pretty good, but he was almost certain that he was having a good time simply because Kagami was with him, and he wasn't sure how he necessarily felt about that. But he had decided to not let anything bother him today as it was just refreshing to be out of the house for a while.

After the game Kagami insisted they go to the family restaurant he claimed they ate at all the time.

"That was a close game, I'm glad it was pretty exciting instead of one-sided," Kagami took a sip of his drink as they waited for their food. Kagami had, of course, ordered an amazing amount of it.

"I was actually pretty impressed; I didn't expect much," Aomine commented, he was still feeling pretty good despite the laptop incident the previous day and the occasional butterflies in his stomach when he caught himself looking at Kagami too long.

"Seriously, the players here in Japan seem to have improved over the years. Maybe it was the influence of you Miracles, since then people probably had to set their bars really high," Kagami smirked.

"Hmph, you think we were that influential?" Aomine drummed his fingers against the table.

"Definitely. Well, at least in my case you guys were." Aomine raised an eyebrow and Kagami continued. "Despite how much I felt each of you were my ultimate rivals, I was really grateful that challenging you guys made me improve so much. I definitely would've never been able to reach my full potential without any of you."

"Didn't know we actually did some good," Aomine said quietly.

"Like I said, that's just me," Kagami shrugged. "You were my biggest challenge, though," he let out a short laugh. "Even after we became friends you never let up; in fact I think it just got harder once you realized your _own_ full potential…"

"Huh? You mean I got better?" Aomine didn't want to toot his own horn (surprisingly) but last he remembered he couldn't even _find_ anyone he would consider a challenge. So he just assumed he was pretty much at his absolute best already.

"In a way, yeah. You started to like basketball again and, of course, when you enjoy doing something you give it your all," Kagami said matter-of-factly.

"So… does that mean I still beat you? Or did you actually manage get the better of me?" Aomine was curious now; all he could remember was the first few months of his first year of high school.

"Hmm… for some reason I feel like leaving that a mystery for now until you recover your memories," Kagami smirked.

"Tch, no fair," Aomine slightly pouted.

* * *

Aomine saw Kagami off the next day in the late evening for the start of his new night shift. It was a bit strange to now have the house to himself at night and knowing he'd be there alone for the next few nights. It didn't really change anything, though, as his room always felt a little lonely anyway. Aomine wasn't sure why as he'd never really shared the bed with anyone anyways. Kagami was to come back the next day around 9 A.M. and Aomine went to sleep later that night with it in mind. Earlier that day he talked with Kuroko to see if they could shoot some hoops later anyway, so it wasn't like he was getting up before nine _just_ to greet Kagami…

But despite telling himself that, he found himself waiting in the living room an hour early being hyper-aware of any noises that sounded near the front door.

Only a few minutes past nine, Aomine heard a key turn in the lock at the door and slowly creak open. Then a few thunks that sounded like shoes being taken off and slowly approaching footsteps.

"Oh!" Kagami sounded surprised and Aomine turned around to face him from the couch, trying not to act too suspicious.

"Hey, welcome back," Aomine said nonchalantly.

"Thanks, I didn't think you'd be up when I got home," Kagami walked over to join Aomine on the couch and sat down, he seemed to have taken a shower at the station as his hair seemed slightly wet and he smelled faintly of soap.

"I just got up early since I'm playing ball with Tetsu in a few," Aomine glanced between Kagami and the television.

"Oh yeah, have fun. Wish I could tag along but I'm exhausted," Kagami ran a hand through his hair and rested it on top of his head.

"You can head to bed if you want then."

"Nah, I can stay here until you have to go."

Aomine felt unusually happy hearing that. He glanced back over at Kagami and his eyes focused on a large, red mark on his hand.

"Oy, what happened?" He felt his brows furrow slightly as he instinctively grabbed Kagami's wrist.

"Ah, a plank fell on me today; I was stupid and had taken my gloves off after putting out a fire. I was chopping away some debris and took my gloves off for a bit since my hands were sweaty and a plank that was still hot landed right on top of my hand. The plank wasn't on fire at that point so it's not as serious as it looks; burns tend to be like that," Kagami waved it off but Aomine still maintained his grip.

"Bullshit, this looks like it hurts," Aomine stomach turned a bit as he examined the wound.

"Yeah it hurts but this wouldn't be the first time I got a little burn," Kagami chuckled but Aomine didn't look amused.

"We should bandage it up," Aomine made to get off the couch but Kagami stopped him.

"Not right now, burns should breathe a bit before getting bandaged. And I've already said it – it's not a serious burn," Kagami gave a reassuring grin.

Aomine looked into Kagami's eyes and slowly loosened his grip on his wrist, "Fine, I'll trust you."

"Good. I am a firefighter after all; I know a thing or two about burns."

"Hey, why'd you become a fireman in the first place anyway? You're such a basketball idiot so I'm a little surprised," Aomine would've figured that Kagami would've at least done _something_ with basketball as a career.

"Hmm, well that's a good question I guess," Kagami leaned back into the couch. "I still love basketball and want to play any chance I get. I played in college, so did you – we were on the same team – but I guess it just couldn't pay the bills as a career. You somewhat managed to, though, with the magazine company you work with." He crossed his arms, being cautious of his burn.

"I had always really admired firefighters; something about doing good for people despite not asking for much in return. The adrenaline rush isn't so bad either."

"I never knew you were such a goody-two-shoes," Aomine smirked.

"Yeah, yeah," Kagami threw a look at Aomine. "I really like the job, though. People are always really grateful even if it's something as simple as getting a cat out of a tree."

"That shit really happens?" Aomine laughed.

"Believe it or not, yes," Kagami returned with a smile. "The kids are the best, though. It seems like so many kids want to be firefighters when they grow up so they basically fawn over anyone in the uniform. I usually scared kids before so it's like the uniform makes me a lot more approachable."

"You like kids?" Aomine asked curiously.

Kagami nodded, "Yeah, actually. I'm not sure if I told you, but Kuroko is a daycare teacher. So sometimes I'll go over to the class dressed up in my uniform and the kids go crazy," he chuckled, "I always have a lot of fun with that."

"You really do like them, huh. Do you want kids some day?" Aomine slipped out the question before thinking and cursed himself when he saw Kagami's expression change.

"Ah… Well…" he rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness.

 _'Shit,'_ Aomine thought.

"I always imagined one day I'd have a kid or two…" Kagami's eyes darted around the room; everywhere except in Aomine direction. "My plans might've changed since then, though…" he laughed nervously.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to ask…" Aomine felt his ears burn in embarrassment.

"No, it's okay!" Kagami shook his head and waved it off.

Damn, now it was awkward.

"We never talked about kids?" He just had to keep digging his own grave, didn't he?

Kagami's eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly, "Um, neither of us can get pregnant, so, uh…"

"I-I know that!" Aomine piped in, "There are other ways, of course…"

Kagami's face relaxed a bit, "That's true, but I've never brought it up to you…" his hand returned to rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Really? Even though you like kids so much?" Aomine's bluntness really was getting the best of him.

"Yeah… It's not like we're married so I wasn't sure how you'd react to me saying I wanted kids. Plus I know you aren't the biggest fan of them," Kagami turned his head to the side a bit, finally making eye contact with Aomine.

Aomine furrowed his brow a bit as the words ran through his head. He still wasn't sure about this whole relationship with Kagami and his damn memories were still evading him, but still knew himself better than anyone else.

"If we're in a relationship and you brought that up, why would I act negatively?" Aomine looked down at his lap.

"Huh?" Kagami had a confused look.

"Why would I be in a relationship with someone this long when I wasn't fully committed?" Aomine spoke softly but Kagami clung onto every word. "If the person I was with wanted something, I'd do it for them if I could. I'd at least hear them out. And kids aren't so bad…"

The room was silent for a moment as Aomine waited for a response that wasn't happening. He turned his head to see Kagami wearing a shocked expression.

"Do you really mean that?" Kagami asked quietly.

Aomine felt his ears burn again and quickly turned his head away. "I was just saying that in general! That wasn't necessarily specific to you or anything; that's just how I'm saying I would handle that kind of situation."

Kagami let out a relieved laugh and Aomine turned his head again to look at him and grumbled.

"Thanks anyway," Kagami's smile was wide and Aomine couldn't help but feel that turn in his stomach again. Kagami pushed himself up off the couch. "I'm beyond tired though, especially after that conversation, so I should be heading to bed. Have fun with Kuroko! I'm gonna need some sleep before my shift tonight."

Aomine stood up from the couch as well and Kagami's back turned to him, but before he knew it, his wrist opposite of the hand with his burn was grabbed, his body quickly turned around, and his lips met all-too familiar ones for a split-second. It all happened so fast that at first he wasn't really sure what was going on until he saw a deep blush crossing Aomine's face right in front of his.

Aomine quickly moved a hand to cover his mouth and looked away, "S-Sorry…" he backed away. "I just wanted to see how it felt…"

"It's okay…" Kagami responded in a daze. He was too tired to try and figure out why in the hell Aomine just did that.

"Um, goodni- err, morning? Shit, whatever – I should get going," Aomine stuttered and headed towards the door, barely giving a wave before shutting it behind him.

Kagami stood planted on the spot for a moment, his brain trying to fully catch up. After a few more seconds his legs moved and trudged his body to his bedroom and dropped himself face-first onto the bed. After a bit of wrestling with the covers, he turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

"…What?"


	9. Chapter 9

Aomine stormed out of the house in a fluster, he could feel his face burn despite the cool wind blowing across his face.

 _'Why did I do that? Why?'_ He questioned himself over and over again. But he knew exactly why he had so suddenly kissed Kagami; it was something that had been bugging him ever since he found out the truth of their relationship: he wanted to know if this relationship was real. The people around him all said that the present him loved Kagami but Aomine wasn't convinced. But the past few days he had been experiencing strange feelings in his chest and stomach – even in his crotch. Seeing Kagami in a vulnerable state and Aomine admitting that he would do anything for the person he loved made himself question of Kagami really was this person.

Aomine's urge to know if Kagami was the one caused him to act on impulse, and to his surprise he found the lips against his felt all too familiar. They felt warm and nostalgic despite how short and sudden the kiss was. Worst of all, he wanted more. The desire boiling in his stomach honestly scared him and he could think of nothing else but to get out of there. He couldn't have been more relieved that he actually had an excuse to run out of the house as he made a beeline towards the basketball court in a hurry.

Opening up the gate and stepping onto the court, he picked a bench to sit on and let out a deep sigh, trying to calm his nerves.

"Aomine-kun, are you alright?" A voice sounded right next to him and Aomine nearly jumped off the bench.

"Shit! Kuroko… You scared the hell out of me…" Aomine rubbed a hand across his face.

"That's unusual; you're usually not that bad at detecting my presence. Did something happen before you got here? You look a little flustered," Kuroko spun a basketball in his hands.

"Nah I just… ran here," it wasn't necessarily a complete lie. Aomine stood up and walked towards the center of the court, "Let's just shoot some hoops, yeah?"

But Aomine was definitely not on his game and Kuroko could tell that there was something definitely wrong despite Aomine's denial.

"Aomine-kun, why don't you just tell me what's wrong? Did you have another fight with Kagami-kun?" Kuroko grabbed the ball after Aomine shot it through the net and held it by his side.

Aomine wiped some sweat from his brow and placed his hands on his hips, "I already said its nothing, and we didn't have a fight. Now pass me the ball."

"No. You aren't telling the whole truth and we aren't going to continue until you tell me what's really happening," Kuroko stood in place and gave a stern look towards Aomine.

Aomine tsked and walked towards Kuroko, "Okay, fine: I kissed Kagami. There, are you happy?" He reached out to grab the ball out of Kuroko's hands but before he knew it, it was moved out of his reach.

"Really? Isn't this a good thing then?" Kuroko held the ball over his head.

Aomine snarled and made to grab for the ball again but once more it was moved out of his reach, "No, it's not! What in the hell would possess me to kiss that bastard!"

Kuroko held the ball behind his back and continued to avoid Aomine's frustrated attempts at stealing it, "Isn't it the power of love? Don't you want to go even further?" He asked in a flat tone.

Aomine's eyebrows furrowed into a v-shape and finally managed to knock the ball out of Kuroko's grasp, "Like hell!" He yelled and threw the ball at the basket, uncharacteristically missing the net by a longshot. He stomped his foot against the asphalt and stormed off to sit on the bench to brood in his anger. Why was he so angry? Just because Kuroko kept bugging him about what happened and talking about it out loud made his emotions boil up so much; it was almost like the night he stormed out on Kagami. And once again – he knew he wasn't really angry at the situation but was instead angry at how he really felt. He knew he liked the feeling of kissing Kagami and that… really pissed him off.

Kuroko quietly made his way over to the bench and sat down beside him. "Aomine-kun: you're starting to remember your feelings for Kagami-kun, aren't you?" He asked in a calm voice.

"Shut up. No I'm not," Aomine grumbled as his gaze remained at his feet.

"Denying it isn't going to help anything," Kuroko's voice was strong but still had a calm tone to it. "Trying to deny your memories is just going to hurt everyone around you, including yourself."

Aomine clenched his hands in his lap – he knew Kuroko was right but he just wasn't ready for this yet. He wasn't ready to accept his future self; the one that was in love with Kagami. For some reason it scared him and he didn't know what to do.

"I know that…" Aomine said low and under his breath, "I know I just… can't accept it just yet… It's too weird."

Kuroko gave a small sigh and placed a hand on Aomine's shoulder, "I didn't think you were this weak, Aomin-kun."

"Huh?" Aomine growled, lifting up his head to glare at Kuroko.

"You can't keep running away forever," Kuroko stood up and grabbed the basketball from off the ground. "You may or may not have noticed this already, but Kagami-kun has been so strong through all of this. He's been doing everything he can for you and has been so patient. You, on the other hand, haven't done much at all," Kuroko turned around and gave a hardened look at Aomine. "I know that at first this was all a big shock to you, but now you're starting to remember things. You know how you really feel yet you keep denying it. When you kissed Kagami that wasn't your moment of weakness – it was you actually trying to do something about fixing this situation."

It felt like Kuroko had punched him right in the gut and a wave of defeat washed over him. Aomine already knew all of this – Momoi had told him all this the other night (albeit in a less harsh way). He realized he hadn't taken any of her advice besides to go back to the house.

"I know, I know…" Aomine stood up quietly with resolve, "Thanks, Tetsu… and sorry for being so weak." He lifted up his hand and brought it into a fist, "You're a lot stronger than you come off as," he said with a smirk.

Kuroko made a relieved smile and brought his fist up to Aomine's, "You should be the first person to know I shouldn't be underestimated, Aomine-kun."

"You're damn right about that," Aomine let out a chuckle and headed off the court. "Let's have a proper one-on-one next time."

"Sure," Kuroko replied with a nod.

* * *

Aomine yawned as he stood outside of a crowded shopping center with a few bags filled with clothes in his hands. Why he agreed to go shopping with Momoi today, he did not know. He never liked it. But she seemed so desperate to have him tag along during her shopping trip and he honestly had nothing better to do anyway.

After his talk with Kuroko, Aomine headed home after grabbing a bite to eat. Kagami was, of course, still sleeping so he spent the rest of the day trying to be as quiet as possible. Once Kagami woke up to cook dinner, he acted as if the kiss that morning never happened and Aomine decided to act likewise.

But Aomine took a lot of time to think last night. He decided not to fight it anymore; if this was how his life was really like he was going to try and accept it. He had to admit to himself that he really didn't dislike Kagami all that much. In fact, he really enjoyed his company. He decided to spend a couple more days to mentally prepare himself until he planned to tell Kagami that he was ready to move on in their relationship in the hopes of digging up more parts of his memory. He really was tired of feeling like the only one who didn't know what was going on with his life.

"Sorry about that, Dai-chan," Momoi popped up beside him and grabbed one of the bags out of his hand.

"Jeeze, that took forever. Were you taking a dump or something?" Aomine grumbled which earned him a jab to the stomach.

"I want to make one more stop before going to my favorite pastry shop," Momoi skipped off leaving Aomine to follow behind.

They stopped at a small store that seemed to sell various trinkets and jewelry. After looking around a while and Momoi deciding to buy a pair of earrings she liked, the two headed off to the cake shop she mentioned.

When they walked in a whiff of sweet fragrance hit them instantly. Aomine couldn't help but notice all the pink, white, and frills that were decorated about: this was definitely a bakery aimed towards a female crowd. He tried to ignore the various stares he was getting from the female customers – he knew he was out of place; he didn't need any conformation about that. He watched as Momoi oohed and ahhed and nearly drooled at the various pastries that lined the glass case by the register.

"Ah, I don't know which ones I should get!" She said excitedly.

"Don't get too many, I don't think your butt could handle it," Aomine teased and swung a bag at her bottom.

Momoi stood up straight and glared at Aomine, "Shut up! Just for that I'm not getting you any!" She hmphed and went back to looking at the pastries.

"Huh? I don't want any of those girly desserts," Aomine responded with a huff.

"It wouldn't be for you, it'd be for Kagamin," Momoi said, still a bit irked.

"Huh? Kagami? He likes this stuff?" Aomine raised an eyebrow and found that he was legitimately curious.

Momoi looked towards him with a glint in her eye, "Kagamin loves a certain dessert that this store sells. I'm sure he'd be super happy to get one."

"Oh… which one?" Aomine tried to not to act too interested.

"Not telling!" Momoi turned her back and walked over to the counter to order.

"H-Hey!" Aomine walked after her but she was already talking with the woman at the cash register. He gave a grunt and decided to just wait outside for her and put an end to the stares he was getting.

After waiting a few minutes she came out with a large bag in her hands.

Aomine clicked his tongue, "You did end up getting too much."

Momoi narrowed her eyes and dug into the bag, pulling out a box and handing it over to Aomine, "You better be grateful to me after this."

"Huh?" Aomine grabbed the box and opened it up to see two, big creampuffs sitting inside.

"Kagamin we'll be really happy that you got him a present," Momoi started to walk off.

"Thanks…" Aomine closed the box and caught up, adjusting his pace next to Momoi. "How do you know that Kagami likes these?"

"You ask me to stop by that store sometimes to pick some up since you're too embarrassed to go in yourself," a small smile spread across her face.

"Do I really…" he said under his breath looking back down at the box.

When Aomine arrived back home Kagami was already getting ready to leave for his next night of work.

"How was shopping with Momoi?" Kagami asked as Aomine made his way into the house.

"Lame, but I guess it was something to do," Aomine responded in a flat tone.

"Looks like you bought something though," Kagami eyed the box in his hands.

"Oh yeah… This is for you," Aomine raised the box towards Kagami without making eye contact.

Kagami gave a questioning look and took the box without a word.

"Oh!" Kagami recognized the box and opened it up, "These are my favorite! Did Momoi tell you about these?"

"Yeah, she said that you liked them…" Aomine chose not to mention that it was her that bought them. That was probably her intent anyway.

"Ah, thank you so much!" Kagami grinned as Aomine's gaze directed back at his face. His smile was so radiant that Aomine couldn't help but blush a bit. He couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness from making Kagami smile. "I wish I had time to eat them but I have to get going…" he pouted a bit and walked into the kitchen to put them in the fridge.

"You could eat those in two seconds flat," Aomine commented.

"Yeah, but I rather like taking my time to enjoy eating those," Kagami responded and walked back towards the entranceway. "We can eat them together when I get back from work," Kagami gave a kind smile.

"Y-Yeah," Aomine stuttered and realized that he was smiling as well.

The two gave their familiar good byes and once again Aomine had the house to himself for the night. It wasn't as exciting as it sounded, Aomine just spent it watching some TV and heading down to the convenience store to pick up a couple magazines to glance over. He figured he should call it an early night and went to bed once everything on TV got boring; but about an hour of tossing and turning he realized he couldn't go to sleep.

Aomine kept thinking about what he was going to do to progress further in his relationship with Kagami. He kept digging and digging in his brain for any more memories but he just couldn't unearth any. The things he was remembering were more like feelings; there were things he did that felt familiar instead of a memory returning. He wasn't sure how it was supposed to work – maybe he'd wake up one day and be back to normal, or maybe things would just gradually come back through familiarity. Either way, Aomine wished all this amnesia would just end.

With a groan, he got out of bed and lazily walked back out into the living room and into the kitchen. He wasn't necessarily hungry but he poured himself a bowl of cereal anyway and quietly ate it while blankly staring at the wall. Now he was even less tired and it was close to midnight. He sighed after throwing his bowl into the sink and decided to try the TV once again.

There was still nothing good on. He was about to give up after flipping through the channels for the 5th time and seeing the same infomercial over and over until something caught his eye. 'Breaking News' was the banner across one of the channels of a local news station, a reporter on site announced that there was a massive fire in a suburban area in Tokyo. Aomine's ears perked up a bit and remained watching the channel. A good few yards away from the reporter there was obviously a huge, glowing orange fire off in the distance. The camera view changed to what seemed to be an aerial view of the fire.

"Jeeze…" Aomine said under his breath.

There were two fire trucks nearby and a number of firemen were at the scene. There were also several police vehicles and officers containing bystanders away from the fire.

"We just got a report that it appears there are still people inside one of the buildings," the news anchor announced.

Not long after the announcement, the aerial view showed two men going inside as the other firemen cleared a way to the entrance. Aomine's chest clenched as the two made their way inside. He knew that there was a good chance that neither was Kagami – he didn't even know if Kagami's station were the ones actually putting out the fire. But he couldn't help but feel on edge as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. The fire didn't seem to calm down any less as one minute passed by with no sign or news of the two men who went in earlier.

Aomine found himself hoping and praying that if one of them so happened to be Kagami he'd be okay. Another minute passed and it felt like hours as Aomine's body tensed more and more as the firemen struggled to contain the fire from spreading further – and then a loud crash was heard.

Aomine's eyes widened as he saw the building the two firemen go into cave in on itself. There were distant shouts as the news anchor announced that one of the buildings had collapsed.

"Kagami!" Aomine shouted and stood up off the couch. The firemen scattered in different directions as another ran into the collapsed building.

Aomine's heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest as his breathing became shallow and his hands started to sweat. He wasn't even sure if Kagami was there but that didn't scare him any less. Before he knew it he was running out the door. He didn't know where he was going, but he ran. The fire wasn't very far away so he figured he'd run into it eventually. He had to make sure that Kagami was okay no matter what. He absolutely couldn't lose him.


	10. Chapter 10

Aomine's lungs stung and his calves felt sore. Despite his athletic build, his erratic breathing and long distance sprinting caused him to feel aches he normally wouldn't. But this was nothing to stop him from running towards the large, glowing, plume of smoke off in the distance. The air was already filled with the stench of fire burning and it started getting hazy as Aomine drew closer, the smoke stinging his eyes a bit.

When he arrived at the scene there were already a couple ambulances and two gurneys being wheeled out. They hoisted up what seemed like the homeowner onto one. Aomine's chest lurched as he saw a fireman's body being lifted on to the other.

"Hurry and get them back to the ambulance!" Someone shouted, and Aomine attempted to push his way through the spectators to get a good look.

"Kagami…" He said under his breath, craning his neck over a few heads.

The firefighter's face was finally in sight.  
It wasn't Kagami.

Aomine let out a huge sigh of relief, almost feeling bad for the other man that he was glad it was him and not Kagami. Trying to collect himself, more shouts were being heard and Aomine remembered that there were in fact two firefighters that went into the building before it collapsed and he felt himself tense up again. He managed to push through a few other people, getting up to the line that police officers had taped off and were blockading.

"Bring him over here!" One of the firemen shouted.

A firefighter supporting his comrade had come out of the building and gently lay him down on the ground.

"Get his mask off!" One of them shouted and a few of the men moved to get off his mask and uniform.

Once again Aomine looked on and prayed as the face was revealed.

And again, it wasn't Kagami.

Aomine let out a long breath and closed his eyes. Thank God, thank whoever – Kagami was alright. He was at the point that he didn't even care if weeks ago Kagami was his greatest rival; he was okay and Aomine couldn't be happier.

"Hey, Kagami!"

Aomine's eye snapped open as he saw the firefighter that had come out of the building with the injured man fall straight backwards on the ground.

"What happened, are you okay!?" One of the men dashed over to the fainted man.

"He was fine a second ago," someone commented as the man's mask was removed, revealing a head full of red hair.

"He's knocked out cold, give him some space!" Paramedics rushed to his side and checked his vitals.

"Kagami!" Aomine shouted instantly, reeling forward only to be stopped by a police officer. "Let go!" He shouted angrily.

"Sir! You have to stay behind the line!" The officer nearly fell back against Aomine's strength.

"I don't care! Something's wrong with Kagami!" Aomine continued to shove as the officer nearly fell back. Another officer ran over to help hold back the agitated man.

"Sir, we can't let you through! It's dangerous!" The officer grunted. "We're going to have to restrain you if you continue to resist!"

"Shit!" Aomine gave one last shove but backed off. "He's hurt! I have to go help him!" Aomine yelled in frustration.

"Please just let the paramedics handle this," the officer still seemed wary of what Aomine might do next.

Kagami hadn't moved an inch since he fell and paramedics at this point had rolled over a gurney and began lifting him on.

"Kagami!" Aomine shouted again, his voice cracked and his throat clenched.

He ran to follow the gurney as closely as he could. The officer shouted to his co-workers to watch out for him as he tried pushing his way through the crowd again to get closer to where Kagami was.

"We're going to have to use restraint if you don't stop!" One of the nearby officers threatened again.

Aomine was at the point that he was beyond caring. He figured he could take on one or two officers if it meant getting through. He almost considered it until a voice shouted behind him.

"Aomine-kun!"

He spun his body around at the familiar voice as a figure with light-blue hair quickly approached him.

"Tetsu?"

"Aomine-kun, don't do something you'll regret!" Kuroko grabbed Aomine's wrist to tug him away from the officers. "What were you thinking? Trying to go anywhere near that fire!" Kuroko scolded and Aomine noticed that he was slightly out of breath.

"Kagami! He's hurt!" Aomine said in an exacerbated voiced.

"Just calm down!" Kuroko tightened his grip around Aomine's wrist. "We shouldn't worry yet; let's just head to the hospital for now. All we can do is wait."

Aomine seemed to have calmed down somewhat at Kuroko's calm yet authoritative voice and stoic expression.

"Right…" Aomine replied and Kuroko let go of his wrist.

"Come on, let's go," Kuroko signaled Aomine to follow him as he was led to a small, black car parked on the side of the road.

"Shit…" Aomine cursed quietly under his breath as he saw the ambulance drive off into the distance.

"There's nothing you could've done," Kuroko said calmly, starting up the car. "I'm sure Kagami-kun is fine, please do not think negatively."

"I know, but I can't help but be worried. I shouldn't have let him go to work tonight…" Aomine ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"This is Kagami-kun's job, it's dangerous but he's also a professional. I'm sure he's fine," Kuroko tried to reassure Aomine which seemed to be working, but only slightly.

Aomine remained quiet for a while with the occasional groan in irritation.

"How did you know I was there anyway?" He asked after settling down a bit.

"I was up late talking on the phone when I switched to the news and saw the fire. I ended my conversation and tried calling you and Kagami-kun's house phone several times but no one picked up. I tried both of your cellphones as well and still no answer. I became worried and headed over to the house and there was still no answer. So my last resort was to go to where the fire was."

"Sorry about that… And thanks…" Aomine said in a low voice.

"It's not a problem," Kuroko responded stopping at a stoplight. "I became very worried for both you and Kagami, of course I'd come."

"Who were you talking to so late at night anyway?" Aomine questioned, trying to distract his uneasiness over how long the light was taking to turn green.

"Oh, it was just Kise-kun…" Kuroko shifted a bit in his seat.

"Huh, Kise? You two still talk? What was he doing up this late?" Aomine asked curiously.

"Yes, we're still in contact with each other. He's a pilot so sometimes he'll call me during his layovers which can be at strange hours," Kuroko accelerated the car as soon as the light changed.

"Woah, a pilot? Not a model anymore? Although that occupation seems to oddly fit him as well," Aomine still wondered why it was Kuroko who Kise called on his layovers but was more concerned over how much longer it was to the hospital.

"He seems to enjoy it," Kuroko responded simply, and the conversation died out. Aomine's mind seemed to be too preoccupied for any more conversation.

When they arrived at the hospital, Kuroko dropped Aomine out front while he went to go park the car. Aomine made a dash for the reception desk, making the woman jolt as he slammed his hands on the desk.

"I need to see someone, Kagami Taiga, he's a fireman," Aomine looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Ah, the ambulances with the injured firemen arrived not too long ago. You're going to have to wait, sir. I haven't gotten their personal information yet but I can call you when they're done treating them, can I have your name?"

"Aomine Daiki." The nurse wrote down his name and gave a half smile.

"Alright, I'll call you up as soon as I can."

Aomine let out a long breath and found an empty pair of chairs in the waiting room, setting his elbows on his knees and cradling his head in his hands. Not long after, Kuroko came in and sat down in the chair next to him.

"How is Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked and Aomine turned his head in surprise, obviously not noticing Kuroko had just sat down.

"I'm not sure, we have to wait until he's all cleared I guess," Aomine gave a yawn. He wasn't necessarily relaxed but he felt a lot better knowing that Kagami was being treated, and the tiredness that evaded him was starting to slowly overcome.

"I'm glad he made it here alright. We might be waiting for a while so why don't you take a nap, Aomine-kun? You must be exhausted," Kuroko noticed his friend getting drowsier by the second.

"I guess I will. Otherwise I'll just be sitting here becoming more and more impatient," Aomine slouched back in the not-so-comfortable chair.

"Here," Kuroko handed over a neatly folded blanket, "This is Nigou's blanket that I keep in the car, but I cleaned it and it hasn't been used since then. If you don't mind using it."

"Nigou…" Aomine mouthed under his breath, "Oh, your dog. He's still kickin', huh?"

"Yes, he's as energetic as ever," Kuroko smiled slightly.

"Thanks," Aomine mumbled and draped the blanket over him. It didn't take long for him to settle into a decent position and drift off to sleep.

* * *

Aomine set down a large cardboard box down with a thump. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he stretched his back that had gotten a little sore from lifting boxes from the moving van all morning.

"I just got the last box," Kagami came into the bedroom looking just as exhausted as Aomine and just as sweaty. Which Aomine didn't particularly mind.

"Good, we can finally take a break," Aomine flopped down on the mattress of their bed.

"Hey, you're all dirty and sweaty and we haven't even put the sheets on yet," Kagami complained and stood over Aomine.

"Just shut up and join me," Aomine grabbed Kagami's wrist and pulled him down with a sharp yank on top of him Kagami giving on 'oof' on impact. "Oh, damn you're heavy! You need to stop eating so much."

"I'm a grown man of course I'm heavy," Kagami rolled off of him and gave him a playful jab to the arm.

"You don't feel that heavy when you're riding on top of me," Aomine said with a sly grin earning him another not-so-playful jab. Aomine laughed and turned on his side to face Kagami. "So, this is our house, huh?" His eyes wandered around the room that was empty sans their bed and boxes.

"Feels kind of weird. We spent a lot of time together in my apartment but now we finally have a place of our own…" Kagami looked up at the ceiling and rested his hands on his stomach.

Aomine's eyes rested on Kagami's face, he reached out a hand and lightly brushed his cheek. Kagami's deep, red eyes met Aomine's and softly smiled.

"I'm happy," Aomine said in a low voice.

Kagami grinned, "Me too."

Aomine lifted himself on his elbow and leaned over Kagami to give him a gentle kiss on the lips. Kagami reached up and wrapped his arms around Aomine's neck.

"I love you," Kagami said with a grin.

"Not as much as I do. I think I'd die without you," Aomine lay back down and draped an arm around Kagami, nuzzling his face into his neck.

"You say that all the time," Kagami chuckled and gently rubbed his lover's back.

"Its cuz it's true," Aomine mumbled into his neck. "You made me fall so hard for you there's no going back. You were supposed to be my fated rival but you ended up making me go all doe-eyed for you. It's all your fault that my life is like this right now so you can't ever leave me."

Kagami laughed again, "Alright, deal. But in exchange, you have to promise you'll never leave me either."

"Like I could ever do that," Aomine squeezed Kagami tighter.

Aomine felt like he could die happy in that moment with Kagami in his arms. Not that he'd actually want to die right then and there, but Kagami made his life feel so complete that he'd probably go with no regrets. If there were any, it would be that he hadn't gotten to spend more time with the man he loved. He really just wanted to lay on that mattress in their empty room forever. He would be a fool to ever leave this life behind.

"Aomine-kun!"

Aomine sat up with a jolt, flinging the blanket over him off to the side. Kuroko peeled the blanket off of him and grabbed Aomine's shoulder.

"Hey, the doctor wants to see you."

"O-Oh…" Aomine squeezed his eyes shut again and realized his head ached badly. Was that all a dream? But everything was so vivid… It didn't take him long to realize that what he had witnessed was another memory. Not only that, he started to realize once empty parts of his past were gradually starting to fill in. He grabbed at either side of his head, trying to massage away the numbing pain.

"Are you alright?" Kuroko asked calmly.

"I… remembered something," Aomine said.

"Really?" Kuroko said in a surprised voice.

"Yeah, I remember buying our house… and some other things but they're a bit hazy…"

"That's good news, Aomine-kun," Kuroko sounded uncharacteristically excited. "Oh, but right now you need to speak with the doctor."

Aomine opened his eyes and realized that a man dressed in a white coat had been standing there the whole time.

"Kagami… Is Kagami alright?" Aomine stood up on unsteady legs.

"You're Aomine Daiki, yes? You're under Mr. Kagami's list of emergency contacts and close acquaintances. He's in recovery right now and I can let you go see him but your friend is going to have to wait out here."

"Its fine, please go," Kuroko spoke up.

"Yes, I want to see him," Aomine nodded and followed the doctor down one of the hallways. "How is he?"

"He's fine, nothing major but he did inhale a lot of smoke so his breathing may be weak for a few hours. We'd like to have him here overnight just to make sure he's breathing fine by morning."

Aomine let out a big sigh of relief – Kagami really was okay. He had already decided to give his relationship with Kagami a chance and suddenly this incident happened and his memories began to surface. He wasn't sure why, but despite the situation it was actually calming to know that his relationship with Kagami was real. He felt a surge of happiness knowing that Kagami was the one he had ended up with. All those times he denied the fact that anything could happen between the two seemed like something so distant. He knew now that he fully accepted their relationship and wanted to get back to it as soon as possible. It was strange feeling but it was also exciting, he couldn't remember everything so he was still a little nervous about how all of this was going to work out.

The doctor stopped in front of one of the rooms and opened it up, allowing Aomine to be alone. Aomine stepped into the room that seemed all too familiar. He never expected to see the inside of a hospital room again so soon and he expected even less to see Kagami in the bed instead. He looked over to see Kagami with a respirator over his mouth and his eyes closed as if he was sleeping.

"Kagami!" Aomine couldn't help but shout and trot over to his bedside in a hurry.

Kagami slowly opened his eyes, his expression turned into a shocked one once he realized who had called out his name.

"Aomine?" He said, his voice muffled by the respirator and a little raspy.

"Thank God," Aomine slumped down in the chair next to the bed and grabbed Kagami's hand. "Thank God…"

A single tear rand down Aomine's cheek as he squeezed his eyes shut and his grip tightened around Kagami's hand.

Kagami's shocked expression didn't leave his face, he lifted off the respirator and paused before speaking, "… Daiki?"

Aomine opened his eyes, a bit watery, "I'm sorry," he croaked. "I said I would never leave you and I forgot all about you… I'm so sorry…" Aomine brought Kagami's hand to his face and let out a painful sigh. "And then I almost lost you…"

"You remember!?" Kagami sat up in bed and leaned closer to Aomine.

"I'm not sure if I remember everything yet, but I'm starting to," Aomine brought their hands down to the side of the bed and looked at Kagami's face.

Kagami's brow was furrowed in a way that looked like he was trying to keep himself from crying. His bottom lip trembled and he gave Aomine's hand a squeeze.

"I'm so glad," he let out in a scratchy whisper. A sense of relief washed over him and it seemed like a thousand tons had lifted off his shoulder. He had worked so hard to get Aomine's memories back, and although there was the fear that they would never return he never gave up hope.

Kagami started to cough and raised the respirator back up to his mouth.

"H-Hey, don't take that off anymore," Aomine said with a worried tone.

Kagami weakly chuckled, "Its fine, it's just a little cough."

"Like hell! You could've died!" Aomine protested.

"Ah, I really didn't get hurt, it was one of the other guys that did. After the building collapsed two of us ran in to see if the two guys that went in were okay. One of the guys that went in found the person trapped in the house and my buddy escorted them out. I found the other trapped under a fallen plank that must've knocked him on the head because he was passed out. I got him out just fine, but apparently the hose to my mask had a crack in it and a bunch of the carbon dioxide from the smoke was getting int. I was stupid and should've noticed earlier but I was too concentrated on getting him to safety."

Aomine knew from the doctor that he was fine, but hearing it from Kagami made him feel relieved. He couldn't believe that Kagami did something so stupid and so brave at the same time. He felt himself being kind of proud to call him his boyfriend.

"I can't believe you did something like that," Aomine said quietly.

Kagami gave another weak chuckle, "It's my job to do something like that."

Aomine looked at Kagami with an almost pained expression. He hated seeing Kagami lying there like that.

"I'm fine, really," Kagami reassured, knowing all too well the meaning of the expression his boyfriend made. "You should head home and get some rest… how did you get here anyway?"

"Ah, I forgot about Tetsu," Aomine stood up from his chair. "I'm going to go tell him he can head home and I'll be right back."

"Huh?" Kagami questioned as Aomine turned around and headed for the door.

"I'm staying here tonight and I don't want to hear any complaints about it," Aomine said with serious expression that didn't hide the slight reddening on his cheeks.

Kagami smirked beneath his respirator, "Alright, fine."

* * *

Kuroko had insisted on picking the two up from the hospital in the morning, so bright and early the three friends piled into his tiny car.

"Damn, my neck hurts and your small ass car doesn't help any," Aomine grumbled and squished himself into the back seat next to Kagami.

Kuroko smirked at the fact that Aomine could've just opted to sit in the more spacious front-passenger seat but chose not to.

"You're the one that chose to spend the night in that uncomfortable chair," Kagami commented. Aomine gave a quiet grumble in response.

Kagami was fully recovered as his injuries were minimal and the overnight stay at the hospital was all he needed. When they arrived at the house they thanked Kuroko who drove off with a wave. They walked through the doorway and for Aomine it felt like he hadn't been there for weeks.

"Ah, it's good to be home," Kagami said with a sigh. "I'm starving," he headed straight for the kitchen and looked into fridge. "Oh! I forgot about the cream puffs." Kagami pulled the box out and held it up with a smile. "Let's eat these."

Aomine smirked and walked over to the cabinet to get a couple plates and walked over to where Kagami was. Kagami place a cream puff each plate and the two sat down on the couch, Kagami taking the first bite.

"Mm, so good!" He beamed and Aomine thought Kagami couldn't look cuter.

Aomine looked down at his plate and picked up the cream puff, taking a bite.

"Sweet…" He said under his breath.

"Isn't it great?" Kagami asked.

"Y-Yeah," Aomine took another bite. He wasn't a big fan of sweet things but seeing Kagami this happy was worth it. "Actually, you can have the rest of mine. After last night you deserve it," Aomine lifted up his plate.

"Huh, really? Thanks!" Kagami took it happily.

Aomine smiled and stood up from the couch, rubbing his neck. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep. I barely got any yesterday and I'm dying to sleep on something that isn't a chair."

"Alright, have a good nap. I'll start cooking dinner for tonight," Kagami mumbled with a mouth full of food.

Aomine turned and headed towards his room.

"Hey, where're you going?" He stopped and looked over at Kagami.

"Um, I just told you…" he said confused.

"Aren't you going to our room?" Kagami asked. Aomine stood in place with no response, Kagami's face reddened. "Ah… That is, if you want… Sorry, you told me that your memories weren't completely back." He laughed in nervousness.

Aomine glanced at the door of the other bedroom and back to Kagami. "I think I'll just take a nap in this room…" He pointed towards the room that had been his bedroom for the past few weeks.

"Oh…" Kagami said with a dejected face.

"Tonight…" Aomine said quietly, Kagami looked up. "Tonight… Can I start sleeping in there with you again?"

Kagami gave a relieved smile, "Of course."

* * *

That night after dinner and their showers was a bit awkward for Aomine. He took his shower first so he was left just lying in the bed in silence and twiddling his thumbs. His memories were slowly coming back to him, but it didn't make this situation any less awkward – he still hadn't quite recalled the details of their relationship.

He was a little on edge and was startled once he heard footsteps getting closer to the room.

"Ah, that felt nice. I'm glad I had the day off tomorrow anyway, I would feel bad if I had to take any more time off even if it was for medical reasons," Kagami sat down on the bed opposite of Aomine. "I may head over to the hospital tomorrow, though. I want to visit my buddy and make sure he's doing alright."

"How is he?" Aomine asked, staring at the ceiling and trying to ignore the increasing heartbeat in his chest as Kagami got under the covers.

"The doctor said he'll be fine but it's going to take a good bit of time to recover. Those beams really fell on him hard and broke a few bones, but luckily it didn't cause any terrible damage."

"That's good," Aomine writhed a bit when Kagami shifted so that their bodies were a little closer together.

"Hey, are you alright sleeping in here tonight?" Kagami noticed Aomine's slight uneasiness.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," Aomine waved it off but Kagami wasn't convinced.

"You don't have to force yourself, you know. I know that you're memory isn't completely recovered, we'll take it one step at a time."

Aomine turned his head and saw Kagami lying on his side facing in his direction. His chest felt warm seeing Kagami right next to him and again, it was a nostalgic feeling. Although a moment ago he was tense and nervous, right now he felt like he was relaxing a bit.

"I told you I'm fine," Aomine said with more conviction.

"Okay, as long as you're comfortable," Kagami smiled warmly and Aomine couldn't help but inch a little closer.

"G-Good night then," Aomine said softly.

"Good night," Kagami replied and moved to face the other way until he felt a hand grasp his. He looked back at Aomine whose face had reddened as he made sure not to make eye contact with the man in front of him. "What is it?" he asked and lightly rubbed his thumb over Aomine's knuckles.

"Um, can I… kiss you? Properly this time…" Aomine stuttered and Kagami thought he couldn't be making a cuter face.

"Yeah, go ahead," Kagami made an amused smirk.

Aomine lifted his eyes and propped himself up on his elbow to inch his face closer to Kagami's, who could detect his nervousness. But without much hesitation, Aomine pursed their lips together. Warm and soft – that's what first came to Aomine's mind, but most of all it was like something so familiar that it felt like he was coming home. It was much different than the kiss the other day that he stole so quickly that he could barely savor. Right now he could revel in the feel of familiar bliss, the comforting scent of Kagami's skin just out of the shower and his hand that seemed to fit perfectly together with the one he was grasping.

The kiss lingered for a few moments, but it wasn't too long, and their lips slowly separated. Kagami was all smiles but Aomine knew that he was probably giving off more of a dazed look.

"I missed having a good night kiss these past few weeks," Kagami chuckled in an almost teasing way but Aomine acted otherwise.

He swiftly turned onto his other side away from Kagami and covered his face with his hands.

"Huh? What's wrong? Did you not like it?" Kagami asked and Aomine could feel the bed move a bit from Kagami probably trying to see what was up.

"N-No, I liked it! So good night!" Aomine said in a muffled voice and he could hear Kagami hum in confusion.

"Good night," Kagami said in an unsure voice, turning off the lamp beside him.

Aomine stifled a frustrated groan as he moved a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat a mile a minute.

 _'That's how he did it, isn't it!? With that stupid, cute smile and the insanely adorable ways he says and does things! That's how he got me to bat for the same team, isn't it?! Damn you, Kagami Taiga!'_ Aomine yelled internally to himself and had to hold himself back from punching his pillow.

Despite Aomine's desperation to just yell at Kagami for seducing him in such a devious way, he slept surprisingly well that night – because in spite of everything it was much better than that lonely room down the hall.


	11. Chapter 11

Aomine stirred from his sleep, rubbing his eyes and turning over on his side. He slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurry and filled with various shades of red. Allowing his eyes to adjust, he got a better look at the broad back and messy bedhead that was lying right next to him. He couldn't help but reach out a hand and lightly ruffle Kagami's hair; it was surprisingly soft. Kagami let out a low grunt and turned over on his back, letting his vision focus with a happy but tired smile on his face.

"G'morning," he said lazily, blinking a few times to adjust to the sunlit filled room.

"Morning…" Aomine's eyes rested on Kagami's face. This was the third day he had woken up next to Kagami since his memories started to return. Every day seemed to bring back more and more familiar things which the two were both infinitely glad for. The amnesia seemed like it was all a bad dream, but Aomine didn't particularly mind that he basically got to fall in love with Kagami all over again.

Everything should've been fine now; things were slowly starting to get back to normal. The other day they went to see the doctor and he seemed very positive about Aomine's memory recovery. When Momoi got the news, she nearly cried in joy.

But there was still something that bothered Aomine. A lot. As he stared at the man lying right next to him about to fall back asleep in blissful contentment, he couldn't help but wonder how he could ever forget about him. He managed to completely forget everything about their current-day relationship and he wasn't sure why he would do such a thing. It's not like he could've helped exactly what his amnesia caused him to forget, but he just couldn't understand why. Why would he forget about the one person in his life that had made him so happy?

Aomine couldn't fully bring himself to be relieved over getting his memory back when he did something to hurt Kagami so much. Kagami never mentioned it, but Aomine remembered all the times Kagami made that dejected face when he claimed he couldn't recall a thing about his memories. Kagami had looked hurt so many times yet he would always smile and tell him it was okay.

"You look pretty grumpy today," Kagami apparently decided that today was not the day to be sleeping in and sat up in bed to wake himself up.

"Ah, it's nothing, the sun is just too damn bright," Aomine fibbed. He forgot how good Kagami was at noticing the subtle emotions on his face.

"Whatever you say," Kagami didn't really believe him but he figured it was nothing to worry about. He swung his legs off the bed and stretched his arms over his head. "I'm gonna start making breakfast; it's your first day back at work so make sure to eat."

Aomine grumbled a response and watched Kagami walk out in his t-shirt and boxers. He heaved a deep sigh into his pillow and managed to drag himself out of bed after stalling for a few minutes. Kagami was already in the process of frying something on the stovetop and seemed to be totally concentrating on his task. Aomine walked up behind him, slowly wrapping his arms around the waist in front of him.

"Hey, it's going to be a bit so why don't you go ahead and take a shower," Kagami said in a lighthearted voice.

Aomine remained silent, his nose brushing against Kagami's hair, maintaining his hold on the other man's waist.

"You know I don't like it when you cling to me while I'm cooking…" Kagami said in a half-scolding voice although he did nothing to push his boyfriend away.

Aomine chose to ignore Kagami again and lightly pressed his lips against the man's neck. He felt Kagami slightly shiver in his arms and turn his head to the side.

"You're going to be late if you don't stop messing around," Kagami commented, he could feel his face slightly heat up from all of Aomine's touches. They hadn't done much for a few weeks, not even since the return of Aomine's memory. So much to his dismay, Kagami had become aware that he might be a little pent up.

"How could I forget you…?" Aomine said in a soft voice right by Kagami's ear.

"Huh?" This time Kagami made an attempt to turn around. Aomine's grasp loosened and they were face-to-face – Aomine's looking a bit solemn. "What do you mean? You got in an accident and had amnesia; you couldn't help it."

"But why couldn't I remember anything past the age of sixteen? Why would my brain choose to erase my life from the point we were together? That just makes me feel like I subconsciously wanted to forget about us…" Aomine's brow was furrowed, making his face almost look like a scowl.

Kagami's mouth hung open as if he was about to make a response but the words caught in his throat. That had been something he questioned to himself when he first found out about Aomine's condition; he wondered if Aomine really wanted to forget about him. The recent events had made him forget all about that possibility… But Aomine was standing in front of him right now, with most of his memories back – he could just ask him now.

"…Did you want to forget about me?" The words left Kagami's mouth with a crack in his voice.

"No," Aomine answered right away, but then pondered the question a bit. "I can't think of why I would… There's no reason I would've wanted to."

"Then its fine, it was just a coincidence," Kagami said with finality and turned back to the stove. "We don't have to worry about it then. All we need to worry about is getting back to normal."

Aomine heard the uncertainty in Kagami's voice and he honestly couldn't blame him. But he couldn't figure this question out for himself yet so there was no reason to continue the conversation at the time.

"You're right, sorry about that," Aomine gave a gentle pat on Kagami's shoulder and left the kitchen to take a shower.

Kagami squeezed his eyes shut and let out a silent sigh. Things were starting to finally look up, he didn't want to deal with anything negative right now, he wasn't sure he could handle much more of it.

* * *

The first day back at work for Aomine was exhausting. He pretty much recalled everything by now, but he had been away for so long it took him a while to get back into the flow of the rushed and busy atmosphere of the company. It didn't help that his boss didn't give him too warm of a welcome as he instantly slammed a punch of projects on him. The guy was a prick but the fact that his co-workers weren't quite as rude and he got out to do a lot of fieldwork for sports stories made up for it.

Regardless, he was drained by the time he got home. It didn't really help that he spent most of the day with his mind fixated on his dilemma he had discussed with Kagami earlier that day. All he wanted to do was go straight to bed and not wake up until the next morning.

Kagami wasn't home when he got there, instead there was a note and some food wrapped in saran wrap on the table with instructions on how to re-heat it and that he would be back later that night after his shift. Aomine was actually glad Kagami wasn't there when he got home; he didn't really feel like he could face him at the moment with him doubting himself.

Of course the food was amazing even after being reheated. It didn't take much time for him to find his way into bed after finishing his meal; it also didn't take long for him to fall fast asleep.

A few hours later, he half awoke after feeling the bed shift from behind him. Despite wanting to turn around, Aomine pretended to remain asleep. Kagami seemed to be trying to keep as quiet as possible anyway. He heard Kagami let out a long sigh after settling down, a few moments later Aomine felt something against his back.

"Good night…" Kagami whispered with his head leaned against Aomine's shoulder blade. He only remained there a few seconds before moving back to his pillow.

Aomine wasn't sure if he did that knowing that he was pretending to sleep or doing that just for himself. He very much wanted to turn around and tell him that everything was going to be alright. Maybe in the morning…

* * *

Morning came but Kagami wasn't there. Apparently he only came home for a few hours to sleep before his next shift started, and apparently Aomine slept like a brick because he didn't know Kagami had left until finding another note on top of a tuppeware.

Aomine grumbled and walked over to the microwave to heat up the food. What happened? Everything was better now, right? His memories were back and he was doing just fine, they were back to their usual routine. They had an emotional moment in the hospital and things seemed to be looking up. But now they had fallen into this routine where they communicated through notes and barely had any time to so much as look at each other. In fact, Aomine knew that they were probably even avoiding each other, whether it was consciously or not.

It was aggravating. This wasn't supposed to be happening. They were supposed to be happy now. Fuck if his amnesia made him forget everything about their relationship – Aomine knew his feelings for Kagami were real and some stupid memory loss wasn't going to change that. But he still couldn't deny that deep down he felt that he hurt Kagami and he knew it still bothered him.

Aomine really couldn't find himself to be in a good mood the whole morning. Work was going to be so great…

* * *

Kagami knew he was stupid to still be thinking about it, but he was. He knew Aomine loved him but his stupid insecurities got the best of him. So he made a plan: he worked a long shift the previous day and worked the morning shift the next so he could have off for the evening. After work, he went to the store to buy ingredients to make all of Aomine's favorite dishes and have a nice, pleasant evening with just the two of them. They could sit down and talk things through; surely that would clear up any uncertainties.

Cooking was a stress reliever in a way as well. It took quite a while to make all the food but Kagami didn't mind, although he kept a diligent eye on the clock. He wanted to get done with the cooking before Aomine got home so he could set the table. It was kind of cheesy, but he wanted to set out some candles or something, just to make it look a bit fancy. He made sure to wear one of his favorite tank tops and cargo pants, nothing very formal – but he knew that Aomine had an odd fixation with his chest and the top was tight enough to show it off. Kagami was kind of annoyed with his boyfriend's preference as he felt like it was Aomine's boob obsession shining through, but he figured he'd let it slide for today…

Kagami couldn't really deny that he was really starting to miss the physical contact with him, and it was really a first for their relationship. Aomine wasn't really the type to let them go very long without some sort of stimulation, so Kagami wasn't quite used to going this long without being… satiated.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head and instead trying to focus on the task at hand, Kagami set down a couple plates on the table and continued to place the various food dishes around them. As if on cue, he heard the front door open and a muffled thump of shoes being removed.

"I'm home," Aomine sounded exhausted and Kagami walked out of the kitchen to greet him.

"Welcome back," he attempted a smile.

"Smells good," Aomine loosened his tie and walked into the kitchen. "Woah, you cooked a lot… and is that candles?" He turned his head to look at Kagami.

"I just thought that we could have a nice dinner and talk since we haven't really had the opportunity the past couple days," Kagami looked off to the side with a slight blush on his face.

Aomine gave a short laugh, letting some of the tension of the day leave his body. "Alright, let me change out of this suit and I'll be right out."

Kagami let out a breath of relief. At least Aomine didn't seem like he was avoiding him and everything seemed to be going well so far. Kagami settled down in his seat and lit the candles on the table, Aomine returned after changing into more comfortable clothes.

"Can't wait to dig in, work was stressful as hell today," Aomine sat down and immediately started piling food onto his plate.

"Your boss being a hard-ass as usual?" Kagami questioned, already scooping more than copious amounts of rice into a bowl.

"Of course," Aomine scoffed and proceeded to pop a gyoza into his mouth. "Damn, you really do make the best food." His face showed blissful contentment as he quickly picked up another.

"I hadn't made those in a while so I'm glad you like them," Kagami smiled and dug into his own food.

The conversation died down a bit after that. Kagami still felt a bit on edge as to how he was going to bring up their little predicament they had the previous day. He didn't want to have it hanging in the air and wanted to dispel the unease that existed between the two despite the pleasant meal they were having.

"Anything else you want to talk about?" Kagami finally spoke up after he was half-way through his second plate.

Aomine didn't respond right away, he seemed to be trying to come up with an answer, "Sorry, I'm pretty tired so I'm not very talkative. The food was really good though but I think I might just head to bed after this."

He chickened out. Even though Aomine felt like he could talk with Kagami about his uncertainties, his indecision got the best of him. He knew that Kagami had this nice dinner set up just for this, but deep down Aomine still doubted himself.

Kagami looked a little hurt after Aomine's response, his eyes cast downward. "You know, I don't really care anymore that you had forgotten about me. Yeah, I can admit I was a little angry when I found out, but that's something I couldn't change. And the fact that you got over your amnesia in the end is good enough for me." Kagami shifted his gaze towards Aomine, "Because you still love me, right?"

Aomine felt his heart drop a bit at the look of hope and anxiety on Kagami's face, "Of course I still love you," he whispered in a soft voice. There was no denying it; this shouldn't even be questioned. But Aomine still wanted to know why he would lose the memory of their relationship in the first place.

Kagami stood up from the table and walked over to stand in front of Aomine, "Then prove it." His face showed a slight blush and his gaze was settled downward on Aomine.

"Huh?" Aomine gave a confused look up at Kagami.

Kagami scrunched his eyebrows in frustration, "You idiot… Did you lose your libido along with your memory?" Kagami broke his gaze and his face reddened even more.

Aomine's eye widened when he finally realized what Kagami was talking about. "I… uh…" he couldn't believe that he of all people completely let it slip from his mind that they, in fact, hadn't had sex since the return of his memory. He must've really been preoccupied with his uncertainties to forget something they did all the time, usually with him being the one initiating it.

But here Kagami was, standing in front of him, blushing like a virgin and basically begging to be taken right then and there. That was more than enough to kick Aomine's brain into attack mode and he found himself standing up and grabbing Kagami by the waist.

"You really want me to show you how much I love you?" He asked in a low, steady voice.

"I'm not repeating myself…" Kagami mumbled.

Aomine brought their bodies closer and realized how much he missed the heat of body contact with Kagami. He placed his other hand on the side of Kagami's face and brought their lips together. Kagami let out a barely audible sigh and seemed to melt on the spot.

And that's what did it for Aomine.

"Bed." He said under his breath after their lips parted. Kagami just gave a dazed nod and at that moment they couldn't have moved and stumbled faster towards their room.


	12. Chapter 12

The two fell on the bed in a messy tangle, their clothes being stripped from their bodies in record time. The two continuously met in sloppy kisses and soft moans until they were completely naked. Aomine ran his hands from Kagami's hips to his chest, the man shuddering underneath him. Kagami let out a groan as Aomine nibbled lightly on his collar bone and groped at his chest. Kagami could feel the intense heat in his groin get even hotter, and it didn't help that his now fully erect cock kept rubbing against Aomine's equally hard member.

Aomine's mouth trailed down to Kagami's chest, his breathing ghosted over one of his nipples before Kagami felt a warm mouth give it a light suck, Aomine still groping and rubbing the other.

"Nn…" Kagami sighed. "Boob freak…" his voice cracked as he covered his eyes with one of his eyes.

"Your chest is better than any set of boobs," Aomine mumbled, giving the nipple another lick.

"No way you think that," Kagami peeked out from between his fingers to look at Aomine. He quickly covered his eyes again when Aomine looked up.

"It's the best because it's yours, idiot," Aomine commented again and gave the other nipple a light pinch.

"Sh-shut up, stupid!" Kagami half moaned. He thought that would've been something romantic to say if it wasn't about his nipples, but that was how Aomine worked…

"And this thing between your legs has been poking me this whole time…" Aomine moved a hand between them and slid it down Kagami's dick.

"Speak for yourself," Kagami grumbled and swayed his hips to rub Aomine's erection between them.

Aomine gave a mischievous smirk and rolled over, pulling Kagami on top of him.

"Turn around," he said, patting the side of Kagami's thigh.

"Huh?" Kagami looked confused.

"Turn around and suck me," Aomine half-grinned and looked Kagami in the eye.

Kagami's face reddened as he realized what Aomine was implying. He resisted a bit and froze in place.

"What? You were the one that was begging me a few minutes ago to show you how much I love you," Aomine commented.

"I-I know…" Kagami grumbled and slowly turned around so that his backside was facing Aomine. Although this wasn't something they'd never done before, it never got any less embarrassing.

Kagami grabbed the base of Aomine's still hard cock. It really had been a while and he felt himself getting excited again despite the situation. Aomine grabbed Kagami's hips towards him and he soon felt a warmth envelop the tip of his erection. He stifled a moan as he did the same with Aomine's; giving it a few light sucks before moving slowly further down the shaft.

Aomine let out a soft grunt as he held Kagami's hips that shook slightly as he tongued the slit. It was an incredible stimulation to feel what they were doing to each other, both of them taking each other deeper as the pleasure from the other increased. Kagami came up for air with shaking breath and licked Aomine's erection from tip to bottom, giving a light suck on his balls.

Aomine gave a low grown of approval, releasing the cock from his mouth and moving his hands to Kagami's ass, spreading it apart.

Kagami stopped what he was doing for a moment and came to a sudden realization when he felt a warm, wet feeling around his entrance.

"Daiki!" He breathed and attempted to look behind him. Aomine rarely did this. Rarely. Kagami could probably count on one hand that Aomine had gone and stuck his tongue… there… and they had tons of sex. And usually Aomine was probably a little drunk if he ever did it, because otherwise he didn't seem to particularly like doing it. In actuality, Kagami loved being rimmed, but he could never admit it to Aomine because it was embarrassing as hell and he didn't want to make him do something he didn't like.

But right now, Aomine seemed to be totally into it. He chose to ignore Kagami's protest and continued to probe the entrance with his tongue. It didn't take much for Kagami to back down from his weak attempts to stop him and went back to attending Aomine's cock.

Aomine continued licking and slowly pushing a finger inside the entrance. It slid in easily and Aomine shortly placed in a second finger, moving them around with ease. Kagami shuddered again when he felt Aomine's warm tongue soon replacing his fingers.

"Ahh!" Kagami couldn't help but let out a loud moan as he weakly pumped Aomine's cock in his hand.

After a few moments of Kagami swaying his hips and Aomine attempting to hold them in place as he concentrated on the task at hand, Aomine lifted his head, "You really like that, huh?" He asked with a raspy chuckle, probing the entrance with his fingers again.

Kagami just grumbled an indiscernible response, still too embarrassed to admit it.

"It was easy to get my fingers in and it was surprisingly soft… You prepared yourself before I got home, didn't you?" Aomine asked slyly, scissoring his fingers inside of Kagami.

"Nn, so what if I did…" Kagami growled under his breath.

"Then I don't have to waste any more time…" Aomine said lowly, grabbing Kagami's hips and switching their positions again so that Kagami was on his stomach. He reached over into their nightstand, pulling out a bottle of lube and coating his erection with it. Keeping hold of Kagami's hips, Aomine raised them up and adjusted himself behind him.

Kagami suddenly felt a different kind of heat at his entrance and gasped as he felt a sudden pressure. Aomine wasted no time slowly working his cock inside and gave a contented sigh when he felt the head become completely surrounded by the familiar heat. Kagami groaned as he felt Aomine's dick penetrate further inside of him. It was always a bit jarring at first but knowing about the intense pleasure it soon brought, Kagami's body anticipated the entering organ.

Aomine leaned over with a sigh as he pushed the last bit in up to the hilt. His lips pressed against one of Kagami's shoulder blades.

"I can't promise I'm going to be gentle, I'm barely holding back as it is," he breathed against Kagami's skin.

"It's fine…" Kagami mumbled against the bed, and that was the last of his modesty.

"Good," Aomine groaned as he lifted his body up, sliding his cock out of Kagami and slamming it back in.

It didn't take Aomine long to speed up his thrusts, gripping at the side of Kagami's hips who knew he'd probably have some kind of bruise the next day. The loud slapping sound of their bodies filled the room and Kagami gripped the sheets tightly as his moans muffled into the bed. Aomine couldn't believe that he had ever doubted that doing something like this with Kagami would be anything but amazing and mentally reprimanded his amnesiac self.

This position was great but after a while it wasn't quite enough.

"I want to see your face…" Aomine groaned as he slowed his thrusts to a halt.

Kagami just gave a dazed nod and the two clumsily maneuvered Kagami onto his back. Aomine leaned in gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I'm not done showing you how much I love you yet," Aomine whispered by his ear and Kagami simultaneously wanted to cringe and jump for joy at how cheesy that was, but didn't have much time to do either as he felt Aomine pushing his way back inside of him.

It went in a lot easier but Kagami couldn't help but let out a groan as his bottom half filled up once again. Aomine leaned closer to Kagami and pressed his lips against his boyfriend's neck as he slowly started to thrust his hips. Kagami reached around Aomine's broad back and clung on tightly to his shoulders, feeling the burning pleasure in his body increase from the methodic pumping of Aomine's cock in and out of him and the fact that his own member rubbed between their bodies.

Kagami buried his face into Aomine's shoulder, trying to muffle his moans as Aomine's pace steadily increased. His thrusts became rougher and more sporadic and Kagami dug his nails deeper into Aomine's back.

Aomine let out a low grumble as he felt his climax coming soon. He straightened up, placing his hands on Kagami's chest, rubbing and squeezing it. They definitely weren't soft, squishy, boobs but Aomine felt an immense amount of satisfaction from feeling the hard muscle. Aomine began to slam harder into Kagami who looked like he was nearing his limit as well, his hardened cock bobbed in rhythm with the thrusts and a bead of pre-cum collected at the tip. Looking down at Kagami's body and face in a slight flush of ecstasy didn't help in trying to hold out much longer.

He leaned over once again, this time kissing Kagami on the lips, easily gaining access into the other man's mouth with his tongue and thoroughly making a mess of Kagami in the process. Kagami began to gently stroke himself, knowing that too much stimulation would end it right then and there, but it still didn't take long at all until he let out a deep moan in the middle of their kiss. His body stiffened and the fluid shot out between their stomachs, Aomine maintaining their kiss and the movement in his hips.

Aomine came up for air as Kagami seemed be nearing the end of his orgasm. Aomine gripped the sides of Kagami's hips and gave a last few rough pumps before he knew he couldn't take it anymore. As his climax was about to hit, Aomine quickly pulled out and with a few pumps of his hand, added to the cum already resting on Kagami's stomach. He let out a loud grunt as the last shot out onto Kagami's chest.

Kagami had already begun to start settling down as Aomine flopped down on the bed beside him in exhaustion. The two didn't say a word for about a minute to catch their breath, and then Aomine lazily leaned over to grab a few tissues off of the nightstand and began wiping Kagami off.

"Was it good?" Aomine asked with a grin on his face as Kagami remained lying there unmoving.

"What do you think…" Kagami mumbled.

Aomine chuckled and balled up the tissue, throwing it across the room into the trashcan (making it, of course). He lay back down next to Kagami on his stomach, draping his arm across him.

"Uhg, I have to go clean up in the kitchen," Kagami groaned, remembering that they literally just got up in the middle of dinner because he couldn't control himself.

"Don't worry about it," Aomine squeezed Kagami closer him and nuzzled his face against Kagami's hair.

"Yeah right, we left all of the food out. No way am I going to leave it like that overnight," Kagami made a poor attempt to get up but couldn't break through Aomine's grip.

"God forbid _you_ waste any food," Aomine commented which earned him a jab in the side. "Ow…" he said under his breath. But Aomine got up after a few moments and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I'll go get it so just stay here," he stood up.

"Can I really trust you with that?" Kagami said, getting under the covers, not bothering to put any of his clothes back on.

"I'm not that incompetent," Aomine glared, picking up his underwear and pants that were thrown haphazardly on the floor.

"I know," Kagami gave a weak chuckle and watched Aomine get dressed. "Hey," he called out as soon as Aomine was about to walk out the door.

"Hm?" He looked back, placing a hand on the door frame.

"I love you," Kagami said in a sleepy voice, his eyes half-lidded.

Aomine couldn't help but smile, "I love you too, idiot."

Once he finished putting the food away and cleaning up the mess, Kagami was already fast asleep.

* * *

Seeing a car coming at you at full speed yet not being able to do a damn thing about is possibly the scariest thing Aomine had ever experienced in his life. It really was true what they say: your life does flash by in the blink of an eye as soon as you're positive that your life is going to end. And of course for Aomine, the brightest light of his life was Kagami. He had to laugh at himself for once considering him dim, but that was before he really knew exactly how brightly the man could shine, and before he knew it the fiery redhead was the beacon of his life and Aomine himself was barely a candle flame in comparison.

In his moments that he thought could very possibly be his last; he regretted not being able to see that light at least one more time. He almost went into a panic because being without him seemed even more terrifying than the car about to collide with his. He didn't want that, he wasn't ready to be separated from Kagami, there was so much more that he wanted to do with him and Aomine didn't want to lose that. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't be able to handle an existence like that. He'd rather selfishly just cease to exist. Maybe dying really was the end-all. It would be better than a life without Kagami.

Aomine opened his eyes, heaving a breath of air as if he had just surfaced from the bottom of a deep pool. He noticed that he was covered in sweat and it was still dark outside, although it seemed the sun would be rising soon as he looked at the clock, indicating it was past 5 a.m. He then looked over at the man sleeping quietly beside him.

He wiped his brow and allowed himself to cool off a bit before looking back over at Kagami. He didn't care if it'd wake him or not, Aomine reached out and a squeezed Kagami into a tight embrace. It didn't take long for him to feel the man stir from his grip and mumble out a protest.

"Daiki? What are you doing?" he said in cracked and drowsy voice.

"I remembered my accident," Aomine responded quietly.

"Huh?" Kagami jolted awake and maneuvered his head to face Aomine. "What about it?"

"I… I think I was scared of losing you and that's why I lost my memory," Aomine replied and Kagami gave a confused look. "It sounds contradictory, I know, but I thought I was going to die – and if I died I wouldn't be in this life with you anymore and I think I would've rather just not exist than have that."

Kagami mulled over Aomine's words, "So… You think you pretty much _gave_ yourself the amnesia?"

"It'd make sense," Aomine replied. "I honestly didn't think I was going to make it so I guess I tried to put an end to my existence so I wouldn't suffer without you. But that's so selfish now that I think about it. Doing something like that wouldn't have helped you at all. In fact, it already caused us a lot of trouble."

Kagami remained quiet for a moment and shifted his body so that it was facing Aomine.

"You idiot," he said under his breath, "Don't you think in another life we would be together again?"

Aomine's eyes widened a bit and Kagami continued. "You always talk about 'fate' so it'd make sense, right? If we met in another life and you forgot about me I'd be angry," he pouted a bit.

Aomine let out a laugh, running his hand through Kagami's hair.

"I'm sorry. I won't do something like that ever again," his eyes rested on Kagami's.

"I forgive you," he smiled warmly and closed his eyes. "Do you feel better now?"

Aomine knew Kagami was referring to his concern with the reason over why he lost his memory and that the mystery seemed to be finally solved.

"Definitely."

He felt better knowing that he had never doubted his feelings for Kagami and in fact, may have been too cautious of protecting what they had together. Kagami mumbled something about going back to sleep now that that was resolved and Aomine agreed as the weight that had just been lifted off his shoulders made him feel more relaxed than he had felt in a long time.

* * *

"Aomine-kun, are you sure you want to do this? Every time I've asked you before if you would like to come in for the class you told me 'No way'," Kuroko stood in the empty daycare room with Aomine by his side.

"Yes, for the hundredth time, Tetsu! I don't hate kids that much!" Aomine furrowed his brow at Kuroko's unsure gaze.

"Fine, but don't curse in front of the kids and don't be rough," Kuroko lectured and Aomine rolled his eyes as that was another thing that Kuroko had told him more than enough times.

Finally getting Kuroko to go through with allowing Aomine to be anywhere near children, the two walked out onto the recess court, each of them with a basketball in hand.

"Okay class, today we have a special activity for P.E.," Kuroko spoke up and it was odd to see a group of individuals have his full attention, albeit they were quite small individuals. "This is Mr. Aomine and he's going to help us learn to play basketball."

The kids greeted Aomine in unison as he gave a half smile and a wave. Each of the kids had smaller, kid-sized balls that might've been a total disaster if Kuroko didn't seem to have complete control of his class.

"I've already divided you all into teams so the blue team will be with Mr. Aomine and the green team will be with me."

The kids chattered and shuffled over to their assigned coach and Aomine began to feel a little nervous as the kids gathered around him, looking up expectantly. Some seemed a little intimidated by him – he knew he didn't have the friendliest looking face in the world.

"Ahem," Aomine cleared his throat, "Welcome to the winning team!" He joked but the kids didn't seem to be quite on board with him just yet.

"F-First we're going to learn how to dribble," Aomine spun his ball in his hand and a few of the kids attempted to do the same and failed. "Here's how you do it," Aomine dribbled the ball on the cement, "easy, right?" He tried giving a smile.

Most of the kids just palmed at the ball, sending it flying in random directions. Aomine tried not to get too overwhelmed with how hard this was probably going to be.

"Mr. Aomine, I don't get it," one girl pouted after running to retrieve her ball a third time.

"I guess I should explain better," Aomine said under his breath to himself. "Um, make sure to use your fingers and don't make your hand flat," Aomine held the ball up by his fingertips. "If you just hit it with your palm you'll have a hard time."

The kids actually started getting it when Aomine checked to see if each of them was getting the hang of it.

"You guys are doing good!" He encouraged and found himself actually starting to enjoy it now that the kids were starting to have fun. "Okay, let's try passing; don't throw it too hard, though…"

The kids paired up and threw a ball back and forth with each other. Aomine tried to show them the way to properly pass but it didn't seem to work as well. It wasn't something that important for kindergarten kids to get right away anyway, although by their age he was already starting to realize his love for the game.

One of the kids on his team seemed particularly into it, though. Aomine tended to gravitate in helping him out with his technique rather than the other kids who seemed to be content bouncing the balls and throwing them- to their friends.

"Can we start shooting them in the hoops next, Mr. Aomine!?" He asked excitedly, getting his dribble down pretty well.

"In a bit, keep practicing until then," Aomine responded. He was trying to teach the kid how to walk and dribble at the same time when Kuroko walked up next to him.

"He's kind of like you and Kagami-kun, isn't he?" Kuroko commented.

"Yeah," Aomine said with a short laugh.

"Mr. Aomine, you know Mr. Kagami?" One of the girls on his team looked up at him with wistful eyes.

"Yes, they're best friends," Kuroko chimed in.

"Y-Yeah. Mr. Kagami and I live together," Aomine wasn't sure if that was something he should be announcing, but then again, the kids probably didn't care about that detail and what it meant at all.

"Wow!" She squealed. "You're so lucky!"

"Yeah, Mr. Kagami is so cool!" Another boy spoke up next to her. "Have you seen him put out fires and stuff? Have you seen that really big hose he has!?"

Aomine swiftly had to mentally scold himself for his mind going straight to the gutter at that last part.

"I usually don't get to see him doing his job, but he tells me about his day when he comes home," Aomine responded and noticed the crowd of kids around him was growing.

"Can you ask him to come back and see us soon, please?" The girl said with a slight blush on her face.

"Sure, he's really good at basketball too so maybe we'll come together next time," Aomine said with a big grin, feeling proud of himself for having such a popular boyfriend.

"Haha, Keiko really like Mr. Kagami," another girl teased and the girl named Keiko's face turned bright red.

"I-I just think he's really fun!" she huffed and glared at the other girl.

"You have some competition," Kuroko whispered over to Aomine.

"I'll fight her if I have to," Aomine joked.

"Please do not harm my students."

"You know I was kidding!" Aomine gave a light shove to Kuroko who couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.

* * *

Kagami got home later that day, eager and a little nervous to hear about how Aomine's day was with a bunch of kindergarten-aged kids. He couldn't believe it when he heard that he was actually going to help out with Kuroko's class for a day and worried about what could've possibly possessed him to do it.

"So… How was it?" He asked, settling down on the couch next to Aomine.

"Surprisingly fun," he responded and Kagami gave a look as if to encourage him to continue.

"I didn't think it would go very well but the kids warmed up to me pretty easily. After they heard that I knew you it was a piece of cake," Aomine looked over at Kagami and smirked.

"Oh?" Kagami seemed a little proud of himself that he had a good repertoire with the kids.

"I'm gonna have to watch one of them though, there's a girl that's definitely after you," Aomine joked.

"Oh, you mean Keiko?" Kagami asked with a smile.

"Hey, you know!?" Aomine felt a little more defensive than he should've.

"Yeah, she always gives me a little letter whenever I go to the class," Kagami replied.

"You never told me that…" Aomine narrowed his eyes.

Kagami let out a loud laugh, "Are you seriously jealous of a little girl?"

"Hell yeah I am!" Aomine said and Kagami stifled more laughter. "No one else can look at you like that, you're mine."

Kagami was way too amused at how possessive Aomine was being, "Right, right. And how am I supposed to feel when girls walk right up to you when we're out and start flirting with you in front of me?"

"That's different, those girls mean nothing," Aomine tried to argue.

"And little Keiko is more of a threat than those women?" Kagami eyed Aomine.

"Shut up… I just get jealous easily, okay? There, I said it. Anyway…" Aomine cleared his throat to get back on subject. "I went today for a reason."

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't tell me why you suddenly decided that you'd take Kuroko up on his offer. So you're finally going to tell me," Kagami listened up attentively.

"Well, I wanted to see what the big deal was about… kids," Aomine scratched the back of his neck, "And I realized that maybe… they're kind of a lot of fun… yeah they whine a lot and it takes them forever actually get the hang of something and they kinda smell funny, but they're not as annoying as I thought they were."

Aomine's eyes were pointed off to the side. Kagami wasn't saying anything so he continued on.

"I don't think it would be so bad if we wanted to… you know, have a kid or two one day…" Aomine glanced up at Kagami who had a look of surprise on his face.

"R-Really?" Kagami's eyes were glued to Aomine.

"Yeah…" Aomine nodded, "I think it'd be nice if we had a kid together."

Kagami let out short huff of air, "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you," he smiled a bit and ran a hand through his hair.

"I told you I didn't think kids were _that_ bad," Aomine defended himself. "And we wouldn't be getting one right away, it'd have to be after we get married."

"Ma-!" Kagami looked even more shocked and his cheeks slightly flushed.

"Your rich parents live in California; we could easily get married there!" Aomine felt his face heat up. "I don't have a ring yet but… I'll get one eventually…"

He felt kind of like an idiot for announcing two insanely important things he wanted for their future at once and not even having an engagement ring ready, but it was something he couldn't really keep to himself much longer. Ever since knowing that Kagami wanted children and upon the return of his memory he seriously started to consider what their future would be like together. He didn't see it going anywhere else but marriage and now kids didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Kagami tackled Aomine, pulling him into a tight hug.

"You're such an idiot, just springing all of this on me," Kagami's voice cracked as if he were about to cry, but Aomine knew he was smiling.

"Sorry," Aomine smiled and wrapped his arms around Kagami, slowly rubbing his back. "I want a kid that looks like you," Aomine said with a lighthearted laugh.

The two spent the rest of the night talking about their future plans, something they had never really done much of before besides when they bought their first house. Some of their conversation was a bit silly, but it gave them something they had to look forward to and sparked a new chapter in their relationship.

In a way, it almost felt like Aomine's memory loss was the thing they needed for their relationship to continue blossoming from their normal, everyday schedule that had started to become monotonous. It tested their relationship and ultimately ended up making it stronger than ever.

Both Aomine and Kagami couldn't wait for what their lives had in store for them next.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story. (:


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